The Doctor is In
by alicat54
Summary: When Law still called himself Harry Potter, he wanted nothing more to return to Hogwarts. However, now that he is there all he wants to do is go back to the Grand Line. HpxOP crossover. Inspired by Serendipidal.
1. Chapter 1

...

...

A/N: The first part of the first chapter (up until Law gets on the train) has been copied with the permission of Serendipital, who wrote it under the title Flip Side. I included it here to give my story context. Originally this story was my commenting on Flip Side, then when I had thirty pages of original material Serendipital was nice enough to let me publish the story under my own name. You should check out Serendipital's profile to read their story there.

...

...

...

...

...

Stupidity was contagious. Law had suspected it ever since he met Straw Hat, but for the disease to effect him? It was worse than the common cold. After all, only an idiot would swap a cyborg with Kuma of all people.

It had seemed like a good idea at the time, but then, all disasters start with a so-called "good idea". That one time when he used his Devil Fruit on himself, for instance. And a flesh and blood _man_ was a lot less intimidating than an indestructible _cyborg_. Let the Straw Hats handle the robot, he had thought. The trouble magnets probably caused the whole thing anyway. Too bad the man had a powerful Devil Fruit at his disposal.

Law shook his head with a chuckle, the cramped muscles in his neck protesting at the small moment. Now he was flying across the ocean in a pink bubble with a battered body, and no way to move against the momentum. With his luck, he'd land in the sea and drown. If Lady Luck was feeling particularly generous, he would end up on an island with no way out. The chance of him landing somewhere beneficial was very slim, and he didn't have Straw Hat's uncanny ability to beat the odds anymore.

Law couldn't even look at the landscape to pass the time. All he could see were blurs: white blurs, blue blurs, green blurs. At this rate, he'd fly right off the map. Then he'd never make his way back to his crew, his-dare he say it-family. Whatever was left of his shriveled, sadistic heart constricted a bit at the thought. Perhaps sentimentality was contagious as well?

Either way, his crew would be nothing without him. If he didn't want them to flounder around like landed fishes, he would need to get back. They'd be sitting ducks as they waited on Saboady, and he couldn't let them commit such a pitiful act. It didn't reflect well on his image as a feared pirate captain.

Law broke out of his impromptu introspection when a tree branch nearly snapped his neck.

Shit.

His Room flew from his fingers, pushing at the pink bubble. With each mental push, the bubble expanded. It snapped back faster than he could blink. Sweat gathered on Law's brow as he concentrated harder. He just needed to break the bubble and swap himself with something. Quickly, or he'd be a bloody smear on the ground.

For all his efforts, the Room sunk into the bubble, dyeing the pink a light purple. The thump of a body against the ground drowned out Law's shout, and his mind slowly faded into oblivion.

When Law woke up, it was to a crowd of worried civilians hovering over him. He growled and pushed himself off the ground. It wasn't very polite, no, but finding himself in the foreign place hadn't done much for his mood.

He walked off, hands in his pockets, trying his best to ignore the shouts behind him. Although, he rationalized, better my eardrums ruptured than dead. It seemed Straw Hat's luck was contagious as well. Now, to see where he was.

Law's shoes clacked against the cobblestone pavement as he wandered around the square, taking in the two fountains in the middle and the tall tower ahead. An odd sort of feeling came over him when he glanced at a sign.

_King's Cross Station_

He frowned as he came to a stop in front of the words. A few images ran through his head, but too quick to grasp on to. Law sighed and stared bemusedly. Maybe he came across it in the North Blue? The air certainly had a bite to it. But that didn't sound right at all. Maybe…?

Law slapped a fist onto his open hand, smirking. After shoving his hands back into his pockets, he made his way inside the station and walked alongside the platform numbers.

"One," he muttered, passing the small plaque.

"Two.

"Three.

"Four.

"Five.

"Six.

"Seven.

"Eight.

"Nine." Law stopped and turned so that he was facing a wall just past the designated platform. He chuckled a bit. The adventure hadn't been very long, but it was high time he made it back home. After all, this particular wall was what brought him to the North Blue in the first place.

"Nine and Three-Quarters." He adjusted his spotted hat and calmly walked through, ready for a blast of salty air and freezing temperatures. It was ironic, then, that he got the distinct smell of smoke and the sound of a hundred shrieking children.

His ears rang in the sudden din, but Law hardly noticed it. He clenched his teeth under a calm mask, hands growing sweaty. There should have been a small island. Not a _train station_. Fresh air. Tall Buildings. _Not_a train, spewing smoke from its cursed red body.

Law held his head, groaning into the palms of his hands. That wall had been his only way out. But this time, it led to somewhere entirely different and unfamiliar, yet familiar in its own right. He just hadn't been in this station- this world- for a decade. Years ago, he'd wanted nothing more than to return here, but now, he wanted nothing less. What he _wanted_ was to go back to his crew and train for the New World. The universe, it seemed, had an absolutely awful sense of timing.

"Oh, dear, I'm so sorry!"

It was only after the voice broke him out of his stupor that Law realized he was on the ground. He ignored the hand outstretched towards him and stood up, coming face to face with a portly woman with bright red hair.

"It was all my fault, I wasn't paying attention-" the woman blathered, averting her eyes in all directions.

"No." Law cut her off, not wanting her to embarrass herself. "It was my fault, miss." He nodded to her and turned to leave, but his arm was grabbed before he could make it more than two steps. His eyebrow twitched, but he turned to face her with a slight smile. "Yes?"

"You looked very lost, just a moment ago." The woman smiled a bit nervously. "Were you looking for someone?"

Law started to shake his head, but stopped mid-way, instead opting to outstretch his other arm for a handshake. "I'd like to know your name. If that isn't too much." The woman was tugging at his memory much like the station had.

"Of course! My name is Molly, Molly Weasley. And you are…?" Bingo. She took his hand and heartily shook it, beaming at him.

"Trafalgar Law," he replied in a drawl. "Thank you for your help, miss." He strode off towards the train, not missing, but not caring about, the slightly baffled look the woman threw him.

What better place was there than a school of magic to find a way home?

...

...

(Serendipidal's chapter end)

...

...

In an office stuffed with delicate whirling instruments, a device like a gyroscope began to glow a faint red.

As it sat behind a stack of books on the shelf, it's warning went unnoticed by the room's occupants.

...

...

A dark haired man in his twenties looked out over the green landscape speeding by the window of the Hogwarts Express.

The door to his train compartment rattled and slid open, revealing a group of young boys laughing at some joke. They froze as the stranger's piercing gaze slid onto them.

"Sir, are you one of the new teachers?" the door-opener asked nervously from, not noticing his friends had run off and abandoned him.

Law smiled, and the boy flinched. "Hm, something like that."

"Right well," the student shifted from foot to foot. "I'm meeting some friends at the other end of the train, so, uh, I'll see you in at Hogwarts!"

The pirate refrained from chuckling as the boy practically ran from the compartment. His escape was so rushed, he even dropped his copy of the news.

Curious, Law picked up the paper from the floor and read the front page.

'Sirius Black Still At Large' the title blared above a picture of a scruffy looking man.

Wanted posters in the wizarding world were not as...pizzaz as the ones back home. Law's own poster was quite menacing, if he did say so himself. The one for Sirius Black, however, just made the man look in need of a shower. Perhaps some medication as well.

There was a polite knock on the compartment door, this time from a cheery looking woman pushing a trolly.

"Anything off the cart dear?" she asked.

Law stood and took his time examining the candies and snacks, before shaking his head. "Not right now." The woman nodded, and strolled away.

Making sure the compartment door was securely shut, Law weighed the money sack he had lifted from the cart in his hands, wondering what the exchange rate between sickles and beri was.

"Children sure do love their sweets," he said, running gold and silver coins through his fingers. He would feel bad about stealing money from the snack trolly, but well...pirate. It came with the territory. He settled back into his seat.

The journey from Saboady to King's Cross Station must have taken more out of the doctor than he was willing to admit, because one moment he was resting his eyes in the cozy glow of sunset and the next the train was screeching to a halt in pitch blackness.

Snapping from his fitful doze, Law looked around, a frown on his face.

Instincts screamed at him to move. Usually such feelings indicated an ambush, and when acted upon had saved his crew multiple times.

"Room," he said lowly, extending the blue light of his devil fruit power so that it just encompassed the compartment around him.

Something darker than black slithered against the glass. The lock on the door clicked, and a soulless chill crept down Law's spine. His fingers twitched in anticipation to attack.

A jumbled mess of screams- a woman, the wind, his own- rang against his ears, threatening to drown him in icy cold. Law snarled and blasted the thing back from his compartment door. It locked itself with a satisfying click.

He wrapped his sweatshirt more tightly around his shoulders to ward off the remaining chill. The door rattled in its frame, but remained closed.

Closing his eyes once more, Law focused on breathing and staying conscious. Phantom spasms wracked his limbs, but he remained still through practiced applications of willpower.

A few minutes later the train began to move once more, but the chatter of students in the neighboring compartments had lessened considerably.

It did not take long for the train to pull up to a lighted platform. Law could hear the muted rumble of voices and feet shuffling out into the night. He waited till it had mostly died down before getting up himself.

Long sword resting comfortably on his shoulder, he considered the two paths leading away from the platform. One was covered with the recent footsteps of the students, so Law took the second. It wove through the trees before opening out onto a cheery village. The sign by the road proclaimed the place to be called 'Hogsmeade'.

He fell back into the habits formed after years of appearing in strange towns every other day, and sought out the nearest bar.

The place was named the 'Three Broomsticks' and luckily for the doctor had a spare room he could rent for the night on the second floor.

Locking the door securely behind him, Law collapsed onto the plush feather pillows, finally letting himself fully sleep in over three days.

...

...

Dawn crested the horizon, spilling light onto the Heart Pirate's face.

The man lunged forward, hands reaching for a weapon, before he opened his eyes to take in his surroundings.

"Oh," he said, finally recalling the events of the past few days. Re-sheathing the long sword, he slumped back against the pillows.

The wizarding world, a place he had never expected to see again, yet somehow found himself.

He thought back to the battle against the Pacifista where he had _stupidly_ switched the robot for the (mostly) flesh and blood counter part. His crew had luckily been out of the line of fire at that point in the fight. Law had remained behind in order for them to all get back to the ship.

The plan was to wait for five minutes and set sail if he did not manage to reach them. Hopefully those loyal fools had listened and escaped. He could do nothing to help them in his current predicament.

Law ground his teeth. He needed to get back to his crew as soon as possible, that much was clear, however the particulars of how escaped him. Hopefully he could magic up an answer.

Getting up, the doctor slouched to the water basin and splashed a handful of water on his face. Wiping himself dry, he pulled his spotted hat over his ears and put on the yellow sweatshirt he had been wearing in Saboady. He checked his appearance in he glass and decided it was clean enough to do until he managed to acquire more cloths.

"Bit scruffy dear," the mirror said. Law raised an eyebrow.

His hands hesitated over his sword. He felt confident that could handle the average wizard, and his blade would attract more attention than he currently needed at this point. With a deft movement and a quickly applied 'Room' the sword sat neatly in his pocket, having been cut into several neat pieces.

Descending the stairs with hardly a sound, he walked through the empty bar. Behind the counter the owner, a Madam Rosmerta, was just beginning to wipe down the tables. He gave her a small nod, and a promise to be back some time later in the day, before venturing out into the streets.

The town of Hogsmeade had a high concentration of shops and homes near its center that petered out into farms and unpopulated wilderness the further away one went. Law spent the morning mapping the territory, taking note of the Shrieking Shack and the more frequented shops.

He stopped for a drink in the Hog's Head pub and lifted the contente of several bags and pockets, adding more gold to his coffers. He also found himself in possession of three sticks of wood.

'Wands,' his mind supplied.

The first was greying and scuffed, taken from a short wizard who smelled strongly of alcohol. Law waved it, but nothing happened.

The second, peach wood taken from a witch, also gave him no results.

The third was of a stronger dark color. Its former owner was a tall man with a billowing cloak and hooked nose. The wand grudgingly produced a curtain of light blue sparks at Law's wave. He smiled.

Unfortunately that was the most interesting find all day, so it was with frustration that the pirate captain returned to the Three Broomsticks.

The bar was considerably more full than when he left that morning. Law sat at the counter and motioned for Madam Rosmerta's attention.

"Excuse me madam, is there by chance a library I might be able to access?" He had not found so much as a proper book shop in the tiny town.

"Library? The only one I know of is up at the school, and that's closed to the public. If you're looking for a particular book, you would do best to order it a Flourish and Blots."

A vague memory of being pulled away from a book on curses crosses his mind and he frowns. While potentially useful, he could not go out buying books willy-nilly until he actually knew what he was looking for.

"Would it be possible to appeal to the headmaster?"

The woman shrugged. "Maybe, but not now with all the tightened security from Sirius Black's escape."

"Hm, thank you," Law said amicably. "And I do think I will take my dinner upstairs, if it is not too much trouble."

"No trouble at all dearie," the witch laughs as he climbs the stairway to his room.

Brows furrowed, the pirate captain retrieved the copy of the paper he had acquired on the train and sat on the edge of the bed. He flipped through each page, deliberately reading each article heading and cataloguing the relevant information for possible later use. Law paused for a moment over the classified ads, before turning several pages back to re-read a page he had skipped over.

The reporter, Rita something-or-other, did a passable job of spinning the article's events into a tragedy of woe and heroics, but by cutting out most of the flowers and sparkles, it was mostly readable.

_"I was just looking after my sister," says Ron Weasley, age twelve. "She found this cursed diary in one of her books and had been writing in it all year. I knew right away something was up when she said it wrote back...like dad always said: Don't trust something unless you can see where it keeps its brain..." cont. page 8._

_"Hogwarts has decided to expand its staff this year by hiring more on the site healers. This is in response to the string of unsolved magical maladies that resulted in the hospitalization of several students last year..._"

The rest of the article covered the angry tide of letters sent by parents to the school board and the paper crying out against the lack of safety and care given to students. In response the governors implemented a mandatory luggage screening before a student entered the castle, and granted more funds to the hospital wing.

He turned back to the wanted ad. '_On site healer, must work well with children...Please send owl in no later than September 15...'_

A plan twisted itself through his brain leaving sub-plots and manipulations in its wake.

Law smirked and looked at himself in the mirror; ignoring the age difference, he did not share many common features with his younger self.

While still thin and lanky, Law had grown to be moderately tall. This meant little in a world where a person's height could range from five to sixty feet, but in the wizard world the man was of a height which forced most to look up to meet his eyes.

Speaking of his eyes...well, he had found a suitable donor to correct his problems seeing. Possessing the Ope Ope fruit made sure the transplants worked just as well as if he had been born with them. A lack of glasses would also detract from his former appearance.

Law could safely agree that the likely hood of anyone in this world recognizing him was minimal, but was it worth the annoyance if his identity was revealed?

Once, a scared little boy huddled in the snow and thought only of his friends at magic school. Now that boy had grown up, and one year of his childhood weighed considerably less than ten years of piracy. Law remembered his friends fondly, but they were just children now, and had no real desire to entangle himself back into the wizarding world.

However he still needed to find a way back to his crew, and the largest source of information at hand, namely the library, was closed to anyone who was not a student or staff member at Hogwarts.

Coming to a decision, Law reached for a piece of parchment and fumbled for a pen, before remembering that wizards used quills. Some islands still used such archaic writing devices, but Law found them distasteful on the whole. Quills smudge too easily, and a spilled bottle on ink can ruin an entire day of dissection notes.

Still, dimension hopping death surgeons could not be choosers.

With steady hands, he penned out a letter of introduction and set it on the desk to be delivered the next day.

...

...

From what Law had been able to glean from the article in the Dailey Prophet and several casual questions about town, there had been some trouble up in the castle the previous year which led to the hospitalization of several students. Some claimed the 'Heir of Slytherin' was behind the attacks, but the official story placed the blame on a cursed object unknowingly brought into the school by a first year.

In response to the complaints of parents, the governors implemented a mandatory luggage screening before a student entered the castle, and granted more funds to the hospital wing.

The escape of the notorious prisoner Sirius Black only caused the wizards to become more paranoid and surround the castle with dementors.

Law frowned, drawing his cloak more tightly around his shoulders. He had seen more of the floating creatures at the edges of town when he ventured to have a closer look at the school. At best they were a nuisance; at worst an unknown enemy.

A cup of steaming coco clinked onto the counter in front of him. He blinked up into the smiling face of Madam Rosmerta.

"You look a bit peckish dear," she said kindly. "Of course everyone has been lately with those Azkaban guards driftin' about."

Law hesitatingly took a sip of chocolate, and immediately felt warmth seep back into his limbs. "Thank you very much. What do I owe you?"

The woman shook her head. "Never you mind! Business has been bad what with the things goin on around here. The least I can do is look after my customers."

He thanked her, taking another sip of the drink. The lingering chill left by the creatures was now completely gone from his limbs.

'Dopamine stimulators are effective in treating exposure to dementors,' He thinks, and files the information away for later.

"You got an owl today," the barmaid pulled a letter from under the counter. "Here you go dear."

Law looked up from his cup to accept the heavy parchment. Taking note of the coat of arms on the front, he slits the wax seal with a finger and reads the contense, a smile curling his lips. It was so satisfactory when a plan worked just how you thought it would.

"It appears as though I shall have to cancel my order for lunch," he told her. "I have an urgent meeting up at the castle I must attend."

"Will you be wanting to use the floo then dear?"

Law's smile did not waiver, though he had no idea what she was talking about. "I've never been one to use it often, but it might be the best option at the moment. If you could just show me where it is...?"

The barmaid chuckles in a way more befitting a female much younger than her. "Of course dearie! The powder is just here by the fire."

She bustled around the counter to the brick lined fireplace, Law trailing a step behind her. Pulling a pinch of sparkling powder from a jar on the mantle, she tossed it into the flames, which instantly roared green.

"You can just say where you are going and step into the flames. I won't charge you for the trip, so don't worry about it."

Thanking her, the pirate eyed the flames, trying to not show as must distrust as he felt. "Hogwarts, Hospital Wing, Madam Pomphrey's Office," he intoned, taking a step forward and letting himself be spun away by the flames.

He shut his eyes against the flood of blurred fireplaces, and felt his body begin to slow. With a lurch the fire spat him out onto a cold stone floor.

Law tumbled and kept his footing only through years of battle and living on a ship.

Straightening his cloths, he glanced around the space he landed in.

Behind him, a simple brick fireplace combined its light with the sun beams streaming through the large window on the adjacent wall, illuminating a crowded desk and shelf spilling over with leather bound books and parchment.

His hands itched to examine some of the texts, however the door opening stopped his thoughts before they could become action.

A prim old woman in a white over robe bustled in. She started upon catching sight of Law. "Oh, are you here for an appointment?"

The surgeon stretched his face into what he hoped was a reassuring smile. "Madam Pomphrey, it is so good to finally meet you in person!"

"And who might you be young man?"

The dark haired figure inclined his head politely. "I am Trafalga Law. I applied for the assistant healer position."

"It is customary to send in your application via owl."

"Well you see I was home schooled, and felt that my application would be better received in person. I have been thoroughly trained as a ...healer, and I hope this opportunity will help me continue on with my...studies."

"Ah well, it is good to see some enthusiasm." She pulled out the stiff backed chair behind the desk and sat down.

Law obligingly handed her the application he had spend the last few days writing to match his painstakingly faked back story. "It seems my letter of recommendation became lost in the mail."

"Don't worry about it dear, we can get it all sorted out later."

Madam Pomphrey squinted at the paper. "Hm, extensive experience treating blunt trauma and lacerations. A passing familiarity in disease identification, and you did your mastery in the versatility of switching spells."

Law inclined his head minutely. "I ran a small emergency clinic in the tundra," he said thinking of his home in the North Blue. "I came here to get more experience treating a broader range of ailments."

The matron laughed. "Well we get the lot here. Mostly the aftermath of spells gone wrong, but you would mostly be dealing with the occasional outbreak of the flu...as well as helping any students too harshly affected by the dementors." She shuddered. "Awful things."

She shuffled through the papers. "I see no record of your OWLs."

"My home schooling prepared me to be a healer. My...magic is rather specified for that purpose." His 'room' could easily pass as magic if he played it subtly. "I consider it my honor to learn as well as assist here Madam Pomphrey."

Her mouth thinned, and Law cursed himself for not forging the proper information. What were OWLs anyway? What did birds have to do with educational requirements?

"The standards across the pond are different from what I understand. I've never been to Canada myself." She laid the stack of papers on her desk and pushed out her chair. "Well everything seems to be in order. Would you like a look at the hospital wing before we continue?"

Together they exited the office, but before the tour could begin, a student dashed into the infirmary.

"Madam Pomphrey, Professor McGonagall needs your help with the fifth year class. They were doing self transfiguration exercises, but then they started aiming spells at each other..."

"Ah yes, the Gryffindor class. Let me just get my things." She flicked her wand, summoning a medical kit. "Mr. Law, if you could just wait in here while I get this sorted out. It shouldn't be more than a minute."

The dark doctor clasped his hands behind his back and smiled genially until the nurse vanished down the corridor. When she showed no immediate signs of returning, he sauntered over to the glass cabinets and examined their contense.

A small green bottle labeled 'Skelegrow' caught his attention. From the laughable label, it evidentially had something to do with regrowing parts of the skeletal system. Before he could fully delve into the hypothetical uses of a potion capable of regrowing complete bones, two teenagers dashed through the doors carrying a third between them.

"Please sir," the tearful girl with a green tie said. "Our friend needs help!" She couldn't be older than eleven.

Law took charge of the situation immediately. "Lay him on the bed over there," he instructed the girl, who nodded face pale. He rounded on the two boys. "Explain to me what happened; leave nothing out."

Madam Pomphrey returned ten minutes later. "Now where were we Mr. Law..." she trailed off looking at the students tearfully sitting in the corner while the young applicant leaned over the still figure on the bed.

He looked up. "Ah, Madam Pomphrey, this boy appears to be suffering from some kind of induced nightmare. His friends heard him scream and found him comatose at the edge of the school grounds."

"He must have gotten to close to the Azkaban guards!"

Law nodded. "He will need chocolate then."

The nurse smiled at him approvingly. "Quite right. You certainly know your remedies."

"It would be unwise for one in my profession not to."

Madam Pomphrey appraised him thoughtfully. "You seem to have everything sorted out here, young man." She turned to the students. "I'll have the house elves send up some chocolate; be sure you three eat it all!" Looking back to Law, she motioned him to her office. "Now there's just some formalities we should discuss..."

...

...

Back in his room in the Three Broomsticks, Law rubbed his stiff cheeks with a grimace. He had not needed to smile that much in over ten years, however if he intimidated the wizards he was unlikely to become employed. Hence all the politeness and cheerful smiling.

Society was so much easier to navigate when you could just intimidate everyone into leaving you alone, but unfortunately not every world could have the simplicity of pirates.

Pulling his muscles down in to a frown just to remind himself that he could, Law stood and crossed to the window. A response to his application should be arriving within the week, so the wisest course of action would be to use the time to reacquaint himself with this world.

Downstairs Madam Rosmerta was cleaning the counter, while two teenagers girls in blue ties sat quietly at the counter pouring over a book. One looked up at his approaching footsteps and nudged her friend, eyes never leaving the tall dark and handsome profile coming down the stairs.

Fixing the winning smile back onto his face, Law caught the barmaid's attention. "Excuse me madam, but I was wondering where the best place to get some shopping done would be. I packet lightly for my journey here, and the weather is slightly more than my current wardrobe can handle." The bag of gold he stole on the train also was in need of being replenished.

The old woman smiled cheerily at him. "I was going to floo to Madam Malkins this afternoon to pick up a new cloak. It would be no trouble at all to take you with me."

Law inclined his head with a gracious smile. The girls in the corner swooned. "That would be very kind of you."

...

...

Due to his limited funds, Law did not let himself dawdle in the Alley.

In a second hand store he found a set of long black robes, which the owner was happy to hem to the correct length for him to wear. Realizing that the fashion of wizards was uncomfortable and silly, the doctor made a note to visit the muggle side of London to procure a pair or two of jeans.

He stopped by the bank to open an account and deposit the majority of his gold, before meandering to the book shop.

The assistant at the desk lurked over his shoulder as he looked through the shelves, trying and failing to find the nerve to ask the scary man whether or not he planned to buy anything.

Law left just before they put up the closed sign, and returned to the Leaky Cauldron. One quick scan of the room to fill his pockets with gold, the pirate floo-ed back to the Three Broomsticks.

There was a letter waiting for him when he got there.

Law smirked. That was faster than he expected.

...

...

...

...


	2. Chapter 2

...

...

ch2

...

...

Life soon collapsed into dull routine at Hogwarts. Every morning, Law would take a book from Madam Pomphrey's personal collection and study the magical world's types of medicine. The texts were interesting, but he would have preferred to use the time trying to get home. However he if he failed to satisfactorily perform his duties as an assistant healer, he might get fired and lose his access to the library before he had even started searching.

After breakfast he would run errands for the school nurse to the dungeons for potions, the greenhouses for herbs, or even Diagon Alley on occasion. It was his responsibility to keep the shelves stocked and dissuade students from trying to sneak away with a bottle of dreamless sleep potion or spot remover.

Occasionally a student would come in that Madam Pomphrey required assistance with.

Luckily, he was seldom asked to do any wand work beyond simple cleaning charms to keep the wing tidy. The nurse was kind enough to demonstrate the correct spells, and several hours of quiet practice let Law fake competency.

His interaction with patients usually followed a similar routine.

"Mister Law, please give the student a pepper up potion while I deal with that sixth year who charmed off her nose."

"Right away Madam Pomphrey."

It was not until the first week of classes had already begun that Law got his first interesting medical case.

A giant of a man barged into the hospital wing, holding a pale blonde third year in his arms. A splash of blood across the boy's chest caught Law's eye as the grounds keeper placed him on one of the beds.

He kept his eyes focused on filling out a request for more sheets, as Madam Pomphrey bustled from her office.

One quick poke of her wand, and the blood vanished. Another poke, and the gashes on the student's limbs (hardly a scratch really, in Law's opinion) closed.

"There Draco," the nurse said, "How does it feel now?"

The boy, Draco, moaned theatrically. "It still hurts!"

The matron frowned and cast another round of spells. Still, the patient screamed and whined. Finally the woman was forced to put down her wand.

"There's nothing more I can do. We'll just have to wrap it up for now..."

Law was already at her side with the bandages. She smiled up at him gratefully. "If you could just finish up here dear."

He nodded and took her seat as she went back to her office.

Law frowned at the blonde boy's unblemished arm. "It still is causing you pain you say?"

"Oh, of course!" the Slytherin moaned. "Now hurry up and bandage my arm, I want to get down to lunch."

The surgeon of death wanted to say 'don't give me orders' but bit his tongue. No, this case deserved more attention than just a sharp word.

He let the third year leave the hospital wing with his arm in a sling, before walking over to the wall of medical texts in Madam Pomphrey's office. It took an afternoon of searching, but he finally found a list of symptoms which could easily match those professed by the Malfoy boy.

The next day, when Draco came in to have his arm re-bandaged (not that he needed it) Law softly asked the boy a few questions. A dicta-quill stood on the adjacent end table ready to record what the patient said.

"You are experiencing pain still correct? It is a sharp stabbing pain?"

"Oh yes," the blonde drawled. "Completely awful, I'm in agony."

"How about a fever and headache or sensitivity to light?"

"I have been feeling so light headed since that beast attacked me."

"And you have been unable to use your limb to its full capacity?"

"Yes, even moving it is horrible."

"Have you been having any other similar pains? In your shoulder or back perhaps?"

"You know I think you might be right, that beast probably did more damage than I originally thought! I think I shouldn't need to walk between classes while in my condition."

"So even the act of walking is causing you pain?"

"Oh yes, dreadful pain."

Law hummed in mock thoughtfulness and stood. "I need to check something, if you would just wait here." He trotted over to the nurse's office, careful to appear as though he were trying no to rush.

He knocked on the door before entering. "Madam, I just finished with Mr. Malfoy's checkup."

The matron sighed. "Yes, him. Has his condition improved?"

The doctor shook his head, and she sighed again. "I thought as much."

"Madam Pomphrey, if the boy is still experiencing pain without any evident cause, he might be suffering from something other than the wound. I ran a basic scan and he did not exhibit any overt signs of illnesses or infection, however when questioned the patient professed to be experiencing symptoms which correlates to dolore neuropatico. I have a record of the conversation here."

The nurse gasped as she read the list of answers given by the student, and Law's notes on the diagnosis written below. "If that is the case, he will need immediate treatment! The rest of the Malfoy family would need to be informed as well, since this disease is usually passed down through the parents."

Law wondered if wizards knew anything about genetic diseases, but put the thought aside for another day. "I will go get the boy immediately, and inform the grounds keeper that the incident in his class might have saved the child's life."

The matron nodded, already reaching for the pot of floo powder on the mantle. "I'll contact St. Mungos immediately and have them set up a ward in the intensive care wing."

Nodding his head, Law swept from the room to where Draco sat smugly in one of the hospital beds.

"Mr. Malfoy, I need you to come with me."

"Why? the boy whined.

"We believe you might have a...family disease which if left untreated will leave you unable to control your limbs and in constant pain for the rest of your life." It also was completely undetectable to magic without a series of long and intrusive tests. Law had made sure of it when he had been researching the disease.

Draco paled considerably. "W-what?"

"Madam Pomphrey is contacting St. Mungos as we speak so you can begin treatment the moment you arrive."

His pale eyes grew wild. "What? No! I'm not sick! Really! See!" He pulls his arm from the sling and begins waving it about. "See I'm fine!"

"Mr. Malfoy, I know that this might be embarrassing for you, but you don't need to put on a brave face. This is a serious disease; you re lucky that we managed to catch it so early in your life."

"But I'm not sick!" he pleaded, as Law steered him from the bed to the fireplace in the nurse's office.

Madam Pomphrey instantly snatched the boy from her assistant's grip and pulled them both into the fire. The green flames whisked them away, carrying with it Draco's protests and the nurse's quiet assurances.

Hiding the content smile on his face, the surgeon of death sprawled across his desk chair and spun a quill between his fingers. It was one thing to try to order him around, but quite another to do that _while_ pretending to be ill. Law hoped the boy learned his lesson after this and avoided the hospital wing. The doctor might not be so kind in the future.

...

...

It had taken the dark doctor much longer than he would have liked to reach the library, what with pretending to be a wizard and his duties in the hospital wing. He finished Madam Pomphrey's texts in a little under a month, and felt that he had a strong enough grasp of magical medicine to use the time to look at other subjects.

Law gazed at the wall of books pondering what section he should start to investigate first. Coming to a decision, he reached for the first book on the far left. "When in doubt," he sighs, "start alphabetically."

He was somewhere in 'D'when he found the first bit of relevant information entitled New Age Divination.

"_Some think that a 'true seer' does not actually look into the 'future'. Instead, the widely held belief among divination experts is that seers foretell only one among many possible outcomes. In one possibility the prophesy is fulfilled, in another it is not. This fits right into the Great Cassandra's description of her gift as '...seeing into a multitude of possible parallel universes..._'"

Law hummed in the back of his throat. This looked promising. Separating out the more relevant texts from the stacks , he pulled out a fresh piece of parchment. He made a note to speak with the divination professor at the first available opportunity to get a professional perspective on the subject.

...

...

Law grimaced at the tables laden with Halloween sweets; all that candy promised a long stream of students coming to the hospital wing the next day. There should be enough doses of stomach calming draught left in the cupboards, but he would definitely be forced to order more before the middle of November.

Still mentally sorting through which request forms he would need to fill out, the doctor almost didn't hear Madam Pomphrey calling to him.

"Trafalgar, Minerva has asked if you would be so kind as to run a pepper up potion to one of her lions after the feast. The poor dear has been too ill to get out of bed."

"Of course," he said with a smile that sent the female half of the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tables swooning.

After the feast, Law made a quick stop to the hospital wing to pick up the potion, before making his way to the Gryffindor Tower.

There was quite the hubbub when he arrived.

"Sirius Black has entered the castle!" some tittering second years screamed.

Law looked at the Fat Lady's slashed portrait, eyes narrowed.

As a wanted man himself, he knew the dangers of revealing yourself in public. Black must have very much wanted to break into the Gryffindor common room, but why?

Shrugging, the pirate returned to the hospital wing. Some of the students will likely require calming draughts after this scare. Besides, it was none of his business as to why an escaped prisoner would want to break into a school.

...

...

Law lounged in the staff section of the stands, head tilted back to better view the quidditch players flying through the storm over head.

Fondness for the sport somehow managed to survive the ravages of time, and the doctor spend a few pleasant moments reminiscing about his old Nimbus 2000. He wondered what ever happened to the old racing broom.

Chilling cold crept through his limbs, cutting his fond memories short. In the corner of the student stands, a crowd of cloaked figures drifted onto the pitch.

Law looked at the storm above, calculating. The light caused by his power should be virtually unnoticeable in this weather. He retreated from the other spectators and leapt lightly to the ground away from view.

While not strictly necessary, this intervention would allow the doctor a chance to test his powers against the dementors. The information gleaned could prove useful should the guards pose a threat to him later.

"Room." The dome of blue extended from his hand encompassing a corner of the stands saturated with dark floating cloaks.

He flicked his fingers, and the creatures were shoved backwards several feet. Law frowned; he had meant to knock them completely out of the circle. He pulled a scalpel from his pocket and slashed. Two dementors quietly toppled over, but after some initial confusion, reattached their legs and continued to move forward.

Stupid magical creatures having a resistance to his devil fruit powers.

...

...

Law steeled himself and knocked politely on the door classroom before letting himself in.

"Ah, Mr. Law! I wasn't expecting you so soon," Lupin said from where he appeared to be wrestling a trunk in the corner.

"I can come back later if now is not a good time," the pirate said, eyeing the luggage. It wobbled menacingly even after Lupin had tied it shut.

"Not to worry," the professor waved him off. "No you said you were interested in learning the Patronus charm? Any particular reason? It is quite a difficult spell."

Law settled in one of the chairs, his arms splayed across the back. "As an employed healer of this school, it is my duty to look after the students. Recent altercations with the ministry guards has shown my knowledge is lacking in how best to do that. I hope to rectify the situation as quickly as possible, and am told that you are willing to help me in this matter."

The Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher nodded from his seated position behind the desk. "Well, I'ld be happy to help you in any way I can, however I am bit busy. The best time for us to meet up would be after the christmas break."

The doctor nodded. "Thank you very much for your help Mr. Lupin. Is there anything I can do for you in return?"

The Defense Professor laughed. "Well now that you mention it, I do need someone to watch my classes for me. Would that inconvenience you at all? The headmaster wanted me to ask Professor Snape, however..."

"It would be rude to ask him to handle your classes while expecting him to teach all of his own. I can understand your problem. I will ask Madam Pomphrey if she can spare me for a week out of the month."

Lupin shifted nervously. "I don't think a whole week would be necessary."

Law stared at him stoically. "As you doctor, I cannot in good conscious allow you to go without proper rest after an illness. When one has a stressful condition such as yours, one should take special care to remain in good health."

The werewolf's face had gone white. "Ah, so you know. I wasn't sure if you qualified."

Law smirked. "Like I said, Mr. Lupin, I am _your_ doctor. Madam Pomphrey has let me take charge of your file, because of my experience treating... others like yourself." The Grand Line had the highest concentration of zoan fruit users in the world, so finding a few to...treat...was not difficult for the pirate captain. "I hope this will not hinder our working relationship."

He laughed. "Well, I'm glad we are handling this professionally." Clamping down on his hysteria, Lupin cleared his throat. "Since we are going to be spending much time together in the future, maybe you should just call me Remus."

Law nodded and stood. "Until the new year then Remus."

...

...

"Where's Professor Lupin?" one of the boys asked gruffly.

Law smiled. "He is out ill, so until he gets better I will be watching over his classes. Now, can any of you tell me where in the curriculum you are?"

A girl with bushy hair raised her hand. Law tamped down the urge to stare at her; his old friend looked so young.

"Yes, Miss Granger?"

"Please sir, we were about to start the chapter on red caps."

The man nodded, burying the nostalgia in his chest under the cold blanket of business. "Right, not who can tell me where to find a red cap?"

...

...

"Ah! Professor Law, I didn't expect to see you here!"

Law looked up from his book to see Hermionie fumbling with a stack of her own, clearly uncomfortable at having found his little corner of the library.

"I'm sorry to have startled you Miss Granger. And please, I'm not a professor, so you do not need to call me that."

"I'm sorry Mr. Law!"

He chuckled. "If you are looking for somewhere to study, the other half of this work bench remains unoccupied." He gestures to one of the seats to his left. She blushes.

"I wouldn't want to bother you..."

He shrugs. "I was just about finished with this book anyway."

"Oh." She hesitantly places her stack of books next to his and examines the titles. "What are you reading about?"

"A little bit of everything." He throws caution to the wind. "I'm researching adjacent planes of existence." Law wonders if the girl is just as studious and cleaver as he remembers and could be of any use to his project.

"You're interested in parallel universes?" Hermionie looked shocked. "But they don't exist!"

Law refrains from cutting out the girl's knowing expression with a well placed scalpel. "Doesn't most of the population on earth also know that magic does not exist?"

"Yes well," The girl flushes. "Why do you want to know about all that anyway?"

"Call it a personal project."

She shifts uncomfortably. "Well, if you're really interested, I know that the muggles have some theories about it as well." He looks at her with interest and she squirms. "My parents are muggles and they subscribe to some science and medical magazines ...sometimes there's nothing else to read in the house and well..."

Law smiles. "I am not as adverse to mundane teachings as others in the wizarding world. Do you have any of those papers with you?"

The girl shook her head sheepishly. "I am not really interested in those subjects."

"Pity," he turns back to his books.

"B-but, I'm sure you can find more information at a muggle library some where!"

The surgeon looks interested. "Oh? Which one is the best?"

...

...

Law strolled down the hallway, thoroughly bored. Black had apparently snuck into the castle again and attempted to attack one of the Gryffindor boys. This had led to all the students being gathered into the Great Hall, and all of the teachers patrolling the castle looking for the criminal.

The dark doctor could barley keep his attention from slipping away during his shift. In an effort to remain conscious, he pulled out the wand he had stolen at the beginning of the year and began casting little lumos charms.

The tiny lights whizzed around his hands in a dazzling array, until Law's replacement arrived to take his place patrolling the hall.

"Mr. Law," Snape sneered.

"Professor." The doctor suppressed a grin as he inclined his head. The two had gotten off to a fabulous start when the older man had blown into the hospital wing to berate the assistant healer for his treatment of Draco Malfoy. The doctor commented that if the boy did not want to be diagnosed and treated for a potentially life threatening disease, then he should not pretend to be ill or at the very least should be a bit more cleaver about it. The head of Slytherin house did not appreciate that.

Law let the lights circle in the air one last time, before flying to the tip of the wand were thy extinguished themselves.

The potion's master stared at the length of wood in Law's hand.

"Something bothering you professor?" the doctor asked innocently.

A sneer curled the potion master's face. "Not at all."

Law smiled. "Then I better be going." He began to walk away, but paused half way down the hall. "Incidentally professor, you new wand looks just as well crafted for as your old one. Give my regards to its maker."

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

A/N: Originally this story was my commenting on Flip Side, then when I had thirty pages of original material Serendipital was nice enough to let me publish the story under my own name. You should check out Serendipital's profile to read their story there.

dolore neuropatico is a disease I made up. Translated from Italian it means nerve pain. I don't think the wizarding world knows anything about genetics, so they would not have any tests to diagnose genetic diseases. What Law did was make it appear as though Draco has a genetic disorder, or as wizards call it 'family disease.' Not knowing modern medical science, I imagine their medical treatments are rather heroic in nature (ie blood letting, induced vomiting, ect). Isn't medical history fun?

Next chapter is finishing up third year.

...

...


	3. Chapter 3

...

...

ch3

...

...

The Christmas holidays blew in with a blizzard and every other student coming down with a cold.

Luckily, they would be leaving for home on the train in a few hours, and not be Law's problem anymore. Currently he had his hands full trying to get Madam Pomphrey out the door, without needing to treat a group of last minute sneezes.

"And remember to charm the entryway in case a student tries to get in at night," she chattered, pulling a pair of woolen gloves over her hands. Law, his own hands permanently covered in leather to hide the tattoos on his knuckles, held the door open for her to move out with her luggage.

"I was hoping to visit some friends of mine for the holidays," the matron said to her assistant. "Only a few students will be remaining here during the holiday, so it shouldn't be too much trouble for you to manage by yourself." She sounded torn between worry and excitement.

"Madam Pomphrey, you can leave the school to me." Law hoped his voice did not sound as exasperated as he was starting to feel

The old woman put a hand on her cheek, reminiscing. "I haven't had a proper vacation since I started working at Hogwarts all those years ago. Mr. Law, I am so glad you sought employment here."

...

...

The first time Law managed to catch a glimpse of the Divination Professor was at the Christmas feast. Curious to see if she could confirm any of the theories he had read, the doctor took a place at her side to engage in conversation.

Over all, he found her to be rather uneducated about her own subject.

"What about the 'parallel possibility' theory that has been talked about in recent years. Have you concerned yourself with that?" He presses, fed up with beating around the bush with subtle hints.

"I believe the Department of Mysteries delves more deeply into the study of the inner eye," Professor Trelauney said airily. "Their Hall of Prophesy dates back hundreds of years from what I understand."

Law nodded thoughtfully and returned to his plate. Perhaps this conversation was not a complete waste.

...

...

"So the first thing to casting the patronus charm is to think of a wonderful thought," Remus said.

"Any happy little thought?"

"Yes. First we will practice the spell, then maybe take a trip around the lake to see if any dementors have wondered from their posts."

Law smirked. "Why Professor, I never thought you would be one to bait our esteemed guards. It sounds a bit more devious than I thought you capable of, being such a law abiding citizen as you are."

The werewolf laughed. "Why, whatever gave you that misconception?"

...

...

"Miss Granger, shouldn't you be spending some time with your friends instead of in the library with me?"

The girl stilled, her bowed head allowing a curtain of hair to block her expression. "Ah, well, I've had a bit of a falling out with Ron, and Harry..."

Law gave no reaction to the mention of his old name, focusing instead on the book in his hands. He looked up when he heard a sniffle. With a sigh he dug a handkerchief from his pocket and shoved it at the crying girl.

"I hate these tearful dramatic moments."

She hesitantly took it and wiped her eyes. "I'm sorry, it- it has just been so hard lately. First Harry goes missing our second year, then Ron refuses to talk to be because of his stupid rat!"

Her voice escalated to a wail. In an effort to not be thrown out of the library for making noise, Law drew an arm around her shoulder. He could feel her sobs against his shoulder, and something like pity poked at the edges of his blackened heart.

He flicked her nose. "If this boy is causing you so much trouble for no reason, why not do something to him to make his anger warranted?"

She let out a watery chuckle. "Like what?"

Law discarded the first twenty or so ideas that came to mind, then decided that the next thirty were probably not legal in the wizarding world, before condensing down the fiftieth idea into a plan involving less gore than the teen beside him could probably handle.

"You could use him for a science experiment, perhaps. I saw that book on curses you were looking at earlier; I would recommend combining the ones on page thirteen and forty."

Her laugh was significantly less emotional than her last one. "That is a horrible idea! Are you a sadist or something?"

Law smiled. He did not try to be a creatively cruel and horrible person, but his powers just made it so easy to slip into that mentality.

...

...

"Dear, could you pop by Professor Lupin's office and make sure he has taken his potion? I would do it myself, but..." she motioned helplessly to the sixth year girl on the bed, who had cursed off her nose in an effort to get rid of her freckles.

"Of course Madam Pomphrey."

Picking up the steaming goblet, Law walked down the corridors and staircases to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. He knocked of the office door. "Remus," he said. "I have your medication."

There was no answer.

He tried the knob, and it turned easily in his hand. Law let himself inside, closing the door behind him. He would just leave the potion on the table for now, then check back in an hour to make sure he drank it.

On the desk a piece of yellowing parchment caught the doctor's attention. Law blinked and picket it up.

"Curious," he muttered, tracing the passages and moving dots with a finger. The office door opened, and Law discreetly tucked the paper into his pocket.

Professor Snape scowled at him. "What are you doing in here?"

"I am merely checking on one of my patients. Unfortunately he does not appear to be present, so I shall take my leave." Law swept from the room without another word.

Walking down the staircase he passed by the great hall and exited the castle onto the grounds. He only pulled the map from his pocket when the womping willow came into sight.

The dots labeled 'Ron Weasley' and 'Hermionie Granger' had already vanished off the map's edge.

The doctor clenched his teeth. Even without him those two were still reckless. It was not in his job description to look after two misbehaved children, but in this instance he would feel a slight regret if they got hurt. Only a slight one mind you.

A dot labeled 'Harry Potter' stood where Law did in reality. The pirate frowned and tucked the map back into his pocket. When this venture was over, he would have to destroy the map to save his cover.

Not bothering to create a 'Room', Law deftly dodged the flailing branches of the willow and descended into the passage way below its roots.

After some cramped crawling, he emerged into the living room of a house that appeared to have been inhabited by some kind of beast several decades ago.

He could hear the creak of wood and voices coming from above. Law climbed the rotting stairs, hands tucked in his pockets. The noise was loudest behind a door at the top of the stairs. He sniffed; there was no scent of blood, however with magic that did not necessarily mean that anyone was unharmed.

"And now let's show them who you really are Peter!" said a raspy voice. That must be Sirius Black.

"On three then," Remus said. "One, two..."

There was a bang, and Law opened the door.

Ron lay injured on the bed, his leg inexpertly splinted and wrapped with bandages. Hermionie sat near him, dried tear lines across her cheeks.

An unkempt man in ragged clothing loomed with Remus over a mousy figure crouched on the floor.

"Mr. Law!" the girl screamed.

"Trafalgar, I can explain!" Lupin held up his hands placatingly.

No one moved for a moment.

Law raised an eyebrow. "So are you going to?"

Everyone blinked.

"I didn't think you would actually take me up on the offer," the professor said sheepishly.

The doctor leaned casually against the door frame. "Well I am. And you two might want to restrain your prisoner before he escapes."

The rat faced man froze in the midst of trying to scramble to a hole in the wall. The two wizards pounced, and soon had him bound and gagged in the center of the room once more.

As Law checked on the Weasley boy's bandages, Lupin spun him a tale of broken friendships, betrayal, and death. The assistant healer listened without comment, not even when the one responsible for his parent's murder was revealed.

It would be bad form to kill the messenger before the master, after all.

"So you two were friends of the Potter family, and are getting vengeance on their behalf," he said, satisfied that the ginger would survive until he could get to the hospital wing.

Lupin chuckled. "That sums it up quite nicely."

"Hey Remus, who is this guy?" Sirius had been eying the doctor through the entire explanation and finally decided to speak up.

"Oh, Sirius, this is Trafalgar Law, the assistant healer in the hospital wing. Trafalgar, this is Sirius Black."

Law nodded to the escaped convict, automatically cataloguing what stage of malnutrition he was in. "A pleasure. We should head back to the castle as soon as possible; that student needs treatment."

"Good thinking," Lupin agreed. While the older men made sure that Peter was securely tied for transport, Law gently pulled Hermionie to her feet.

"For someone you are in a fight with, you sure risked a lot following Mr. Weasley down here."

She flushed and wiped at her cheeks. "He's still my friend, even though he has been behaving like a complete cow all year."

"It was still stupid." She ducked her head in embarrassment. "Now help me get him up." Together they wrestled Ron from the bed into a more or less comfortable position draped over their shoulders.

"Isn't there a spell for this?" she pants as they descend the stairs to the secret tunnel.

"Perhaps, however I misplaced my wand on the way here."

Silently the mismatched group staggered through the underground passage and out onto the castle grounds.

Instincts nagged in the back of Law's mind, trying to make him remember something important.

A cloud moved over head, revealing a bright full moon. Lupin froze.

Oh, that was what he forgot.

Apparently Sirius realized what was wrong too, as he began to transform himself into a massive black dog in order to hold back the werewolf. Peter, noticing their inattention, shrank down onto all fours as well.

Law growled as the rat escaped into the underbrush, just out of range of his 'room'. He needed a better method to restrain people. What if he took off their legs? Or perhaps a vital organ would be a better body part to hold hostage...

Shaking off his pondering, the doctor grabbed Ron and Hermionie. Half way to the castle the sounds howls and growls of the fighting canines died away in place of an ominous silence. Law's eyes narrowed.

"You two go on ahead," he told the teens. "I will tend to your injuries in the hospital wing when I return."

"Where are you going?" Hermionie looked terrified.

The pirate shook his arm trying to dislodge the girl. "There is a werewolf loose on the grounds. He forgot to take his medication, and as he is my patient, I am responsible for him. It would be detrimental to my continued employment if he or anyone else were injured due to my negligence."

Law ran away before she could get in another word. It did not take him long to find Black's body lying prone by the lake side. Had the man been injured while fighting?

Cautiously Law approached the fallen figure.

Then they swarmed.

Law cursed, and created a 'room' to drive back the dementors. There was not enough time to reassemble his sword, and even if there was, it would not do much good against these creatures. The air in his chest turned cold, and his breath became frosty.

His 'room' flickered out.

The dementors closed in and Law felt his vision fade.

"Vergo!" he hissed as memories of his own screams filled his ears. He would not pass out- he was not weak!

Clammy grey hands reached for his face, drawing him towards a rotting mouth.

"Room!" the pirate growled through clenched teeth, but the light under his hands barely flickered.

There was a roar and the creature holding him was thrown aside by a wall of light.

"Bepo?" Law gasped, eyes still refusing to function properly.

The large white beast roared as it chased away the remaining dementors from the two fallen bodies. The doctor struggled to focus and stay conscious, but lost the battle to darkness.

...

...

The familiar smell of disinfectant stabbed through his nose. Law wondered if he had fallen asleep in the ship's operation room again. He should leave before Shachi came in to straighten the case files and kick him out.

He opened his eyes. Instead of the pipes and leavers which crisscrossed the ceiling of the yellow submarine of the Heart Pirates, the white ceiling of the hospital wing hung over him. His spirits did not fall, as that would imply the dark doctor possessed a shred of optimism.

"I see you are awake Mr. Law." Madam Pomphrey stood beside his bed, a chocolate bar in her hand which she dropped into his lap.

The doctor sat up and unwrapped the confection, taking a relived bite. "What happened?"

"You, young man, did something very brave and very stupid!" she tells him firmly. "First you rescue two students from Sirius Black, then after ensuring their safety you go back to capture the criminal, only to get caught between him and some dementors! We only just found you both by the lake an hour ago."

She busied herself with fluffing the pillows behind his back. "The minister of magic arrived to take Black into custody. He tried to get in here to talk while you were out, something about an Order of Merlin, but I told him that under no circumstances were you to be disturbed."

Law nodded and nibbled his chocolate bar. "I am feeling much better now." He swallowed. "However, I must apologize; because of my negligence one of my patience is loose on the grounds and is a danger to himself and anyone who comes across him. I take full responsibility, and hope it will not effect my employment here."

The matron frowned. "We shall have to make sure no one was injured in the morning, but what with Sirius Black, I think we can overlook your mistake."

"Thank you."

She patted his arm fondly and went to check on the red headed boy in one of the other beds. Law saw Hermionie with her own chocolate bar sitting several beds to his right. He swung his legs to the floor to test the steadiness of his feet, before walking over to her.

She looked up at his approach, giving a hesitant little smile.

"Professor Dumbledore just left," she said without preamble. "I tried to explain everything to him while you were out. He said that Sirius was going to be executed tonight without a trial." She sniffed. "He said that I could help him, but..."

She picked at the wrapper of her chocolate.

"But you are scared." Law surmised.

"It is very illegal!"

"But you would feel guilty letting an innocent man die."

"Yes!" she sobbed.

Coming from a place where 'justice' was defined by a government run by people who thought normal humans were less than trash, Law could not really empathize. People died all the time, whether they were innocent or not.

In a forgotten corner of his psyche, the remnants of an eleven year old wizard possessing a 'saving people thing' who would do anything for his friends cried out. Law sighed.

Checking over his shoulder to make sure Madam Pomphrey had gone into her office and closed the door, the dark doctor sat on the foot of the girls bed.

"Tell me everything."

She nodded and pulled a gold chain from around her neck. "In order to keep up with all of my classes this year, Professor McGonagall sent out for a time turner. Dumbledore said, just before he left -or at least I think its what he said- that if I go back I could help Sirius."

Law could hear the unspoken 'I have no idea what I'm doing' permeating her words. He refused to sigh again. "Did he say you had to go alone?"

"Not exactly..."

"Then I shall go with you Miss Granger."

"Really?" her eyes grew impossibly wide with wonder. "But it is highly illegal, not to mention dangerous!"

"All the more reason for you to not go alone."

If anything her expression becomes even more pathetic. She lunges at his chest. "Thank you so much Mr. Law!"

The doctor stiffened, thoroughly uncomfortable with the physical contact. He pushes her off with a hasty excuse.

"I need to get something," Law went to his office desk and pulled his wand from the side drawer. "It would be unfortunate to forget this again."

He went back to Hermionie, who looped the long silver chain of the time turner around his neck. She spun the tiny hour glass affixed to the end, and Law blinked away the vertigo as the world rewound around them.

They were still in the hospital wing, but the sunlight streaming though the windows posed the time as the late afternoon rather than the dead of night.

He hummed in the back of his throat and disentangled himself from the girl at his side. "If I remember correctly, I will be in the library until the feast. If we need to hide from your past self, I recommend that we either remain in my office here or quickly go elsewhere before Madam Pomphrey returns."

"We should go to the forest," the girl says. "Then we can rescue Buckbeack before he is killed."

"That is the ground keeper's hippogriff, right? The one that attacked the Malfoy boy."

She nodded, already checking around the edges of the door to look down the corridor. "I've been helping Hagrid with Buckbeak's trial, but the ministry decided that there was too great a risk he would go after another student. They didn't seem to care that Malfoy had been faking the whole time."

Law thought her efforts to sneak were adorable, like a kitten trying to play at being a lion. Being himself a predator used to this kind of game, the doctor decided to give her some assistance.

"Miss Granger, when trying to go about unnoticed, looking around corners is just asking for suspicion. We shall simply walk." Motioning for the girl to follow him, Law swept from the castle and out onto the great lawn outside. He made for the greenhouses, then when the glass buildings blocked him from sight of the school, turned into the forest.

Procuring the magical creature from where it was tied up in Hagrid's pumpkin patch proved to be a simple task, as were the impromptu lessons Hermionie gave him on how to properly approach the hippogriff.

He entertained himself with a book he had tucked into his pocket before leaving his office. When darkness fell, the doctor casually reminded the girl that a werewolf would soon be running loose, and that they should probably get away from the trees to a safer location.

They relocated to a bush by the lake. Law scanned the opposite shore with his eyes every few minutes, waiting. Sure enough, the mismatched party was soon walking across the grass. A cloud moved, revealing the full moon, and everyone scattered. Sirius transformed into a black dog, and once the wolf had been herded into the trees, the Azkaban guards swarmed.

On the other side of the water he could see himself straining to summon a 'room' to push back the dementors. Law took a moment to analyze his own exhibited symptoms of post traumatic stress, before he raised his wand.

"Expecto Patronum," he intoned. A white light blossomed at the end of his wand, coalescing into a massive four legged shape which pounced upon the dementors. The doctor listened with glee at the creature's silent screams as they fled, leaving prone bodies on the shore.

The silver tiger, circled his past self and escaped convict one last time before shaking its head and vanishing.

Calmly Law walked back to their hiding spot in the bushes. "We should wait about fifteen minutes to fly up to the window," he told Hermionie, who nodded.

...

...

"I don't know who you are, Trafalgar Law, but I am forever in your debt."

The doctor waved off his thanks. "I did it on a whim, you don't owe me anything."

Black laughed.

The doctor and student watched as the escaped convict flew over the horizon on the back of a hippogriff and vanished.

Hermionie shifts awkwardly from foot to foot. "Um, Mr. Law? Thank you for, well everything."

Her face is turned to the floor, but Law can still see the blush dusting her cheeks a light pink. He smiles, and the color intensifies.

"Like I said Miss Granger, I did it on a whim, there is no need to thank me." He turns to the door of the astronomy tower. "Now, we should return to the hospital wing before we are missed."

...

...

"Will you be remaining at Hogwarts for the summer Mr. Law?" Madam Pomphrey asks as she locks the door to the hospital wing. It would remain closed until the second week of August when the nurse would begin to get the hospital ready for the student's arrival.

The doctor shook his head. "No, I was thinking of taking a trip to Oxford."

"Oh, you have family there?" Together they walk towards the castle grounds; Madam Pomphrey to apparete home, and Law to catch the Hogwarts express.

"My family is much further away than that."

She chuckles. "You're family is in Canada, right? You should take some time to visit them."

"I will, once this is all over," he says with a secretive smile.

...

...

The woman sitting t the front desk of the Oxford main library sighed and checked the email on her phone. The only thing she had done today was direct a few tourists to the rare book section. Really she shouldn't be here during the summer break: anyone who wanted to read _these_ books already knew where what they wanted was.

"Excuse me," a tall man in a yellow shirt and jeans asked the woman at the front desk, "I was wondering if you could help me find something."

The librarian adjusted her glasses, glanced at his face, blushed, and focused her eyes firmly on her keyboard. "Do you know the title and author of the book you need?"

He smiled and her cheeks darkened from pink to red. "I'm trying to find some information on parallel dimensions."

"Are you studying physics?" The dark circles under his eyes made him look sleep deprived enough to be a graduate student.

"I am a doctor."

She gave him another once over with her eyes. "Already have your degree then? I'm jealous. Thesis statements are the worst!"

He nods politely as she chatters.

"Well, there's some advanced books on inter-dimensional theory...you can look through this call number." She scribbles down a string of digits on a square of paper and hands it to him. "They should be somewhere in the basement level."

The man thanks her and walks away, hands tucked carelessly into his pockets. The moment he is out of sight, the young librarian picks up her phone. "Oh my gosh, Bernice? I just saw the most gorgeous man at work today..."

Law walked steadily down the hall, glancing at the signs tacked to the shelves to make sure he had not missed the correct number combination. Eventually he comes to the correct section and peers at the titles on display.

"String Theory? The Quantum and The Lotus?" his head tilted curiously to the side as he picks up one of the books. One look at the inside cover, and the doctor knew he was in love.

"You have a table of contents," he coos to the bindings, "and an index as well! I was beginning to think all books in this world were uncivilized! Why can't wizarding books be this nice?"

The inhabitants of the Oxford library averted their eyes from the creepily happy man spinning around with his arms full of books. Some of them would later need therapy to fully recover from the incident, but most would survive.

Moment of ecstasy done, Law buried himself under paper, only occasionally getting up to check a call number on the computer in the corner.

His gaze flicked to the medical section of the library, but he ruthlessly kept himself on task.

After much cursing and theorizing and pages of notebook paper, Law sat back in his chair, hands steepled in front of his mouth.

Muggles had much more to say on the topic of alternate universes and dimensions of space. One of them, an Albert Einstein or Hawking, even linked space, time, and energy. It explained why the den den mushi's clock had slowed to an almost complete stop.

Perhaps this meant that the time he was spending in the wizarding world was not lost on the Grand Line. If that were the case, and if the den den mushi's ability to keep time was to be believed, then one year in the wizarding world amounted to only half a day.

Combining that with the three days spent flying through the air after Kuma's attack, and his crew had only missed him for about four days.

That was not too bad at all.

Now if only he could find a way home.

...

...

...

...

...

Next chapter begins fourth year.

A/N: How many people want Law to kick Voldemort's behind and how many want him to just find his way home?

...

...


	4. Chapter 4

...

...

ch4

...

...

The summer had been an enjoyable vacation.

The texts on theoretical physics had soon run dry under Law's methodical study. After a brief jaunt into fiction (where he found no relevant information on alternate realities), he had filled up the remaining weeks with forays into the library's extensive medical sections. While some of the techniques were interesting, it was nothing that Law felt he could not have innovated on his own after a few more experiments. The engineering books might interest Shachi back on the yellow submarine though.

The librarian showed him how to work the photocopier, and he spent more than one afternoon printing out graphs and diagrams, all of which were tucked safely into a folder of his notebook.

As he relaxed against his seat on the express, Law could not wait to return to his research. Last he checked he was half way through the Q section of the Hogwarts library. He knew enough now to be able to skip some subjects, so finishing with the last half of the alphabet should not take him nearly as long as the first.

A small smile lightly touched his lips. Pretty soon he would be back on the Grand Line with his crew, and the New World would bow to him. He refused to let himself consider what would he would do if the library failed to give him an answer to his predicament.

Several girls lurking outside of the handsome man's compartment screamed and ran away. Law made a note not to let his mind wonder to such sensitive topics in public.

Being only the assistant Healer, Law did not need to return to the castle until September first, hence why he was on the train with the students.

Instead of attending the opening feast when the train arrived at Hogwarts, the doctor hurried to his office to begin sorting through the accumulated piles of paperwork. Only members of staff were required to attend, and Law would prefer not being rushed while attending to students seeking treatment in the morning.

He paused over a form. "Is there any reason why we need to double our stock this semester?"

Madam Pomphrey looked over her shoulder as she set up the beds with her wand. "Didn't I tell you dear, we are having some foreign students here for the remainder of the year. It is for the Tri Wizard Tournament. With all the excitement last year it must have slipped my mind."

"Oh." Law continued to fill out the request, wondering how much his workload would increase with the added hazards running loose in the castle and subsequently how much time that would detract from his research.

...

...

Law stood out on the sweeping Hogwarts lawn with the rest of the school waiting for the delegations form Durmstrang and Beauxbatons.

The flying carriage was creative, he would give the French students that, however the commotion in the center of the lake pulled his attention a bit more than horses.

The prow of a great ship emerged from the water with a splash, majestically sending waves of water rolling onto the lake's shore.

The captain of the Heart Pirates wanted to roll his eyes. Any sailor with a bubble coated ship could make an entrance like that; a real impressive entrance hardly made a ripple on the ocean's surface. Enemy scouts never noticed those until it was too late.

All it took was one shot from one of his marksmen, and Penguin would shimmy up the boat's side with a small party to quietly seal the enemy ship's doors shut before robbing them blind. Usually the other ship would get away completely unharmed, except for when the yellow submarine needed new sails, or mast... then there was the one amusing night when they found a bear skinned rug and Bepo took offense...

Suddenly Law's tolerantly amused mood vanished.

"Are you all right dear," Madam Pomphrey whispered from his side. "You are looking a bit peckish."

He shook his head. "It must be the air. It might be best if I turned in early."

The nurse patted his stiff shoulder fondly. "Maybe take a bit of pepper up before you go to sleep to put some color into your cheeks."

Law's mysterious illness would keep him confined in his room through the next day. When asked, Madam Pomphrey would adopt a grandmotherly tone of worry and comment on how tired and worn out her assistant was looking, as if the weight of the world was weighing down on his shoulders.

Meanwhile, the pirate lay in his bed listlessly staring at the wall, as if by willing it to be so he would be back in his cabin under the sea. At least there he could vent some of his frustration on another crew, or match his wits against a lieutenant of the marines.

Here he was surrounded by boring wizards in a boring school to study illogical magic, which through all his research had proven itself to be repetitive and by extension boring. He just really needed to kill something. Someone, actually, felt like a better option.

The pirate sighed and buried his face in the pillow.

Elsewhere, at the Halloween Feast, the fourth champion was announced.

...

...

"How is this possible Dumbledore? Harry Potter has been missing for years!" Karkaroff yells.

The Hogwarts headmaster's eyes twinkled. "Quite remarkable, isn't it?"

"Harry's name has been pulled from the goblet, so he must compete. It is a magically binding contract that cannot be broken," Crouch supplied tonelessly.

"Well he can't compete, as we son't know where the boy is," Bagman supplied, trying to calm the other judges down. "All efforts to find him have turned up nothing."

"On the contrary Ludo, the goblet has just supplied us a clue as to Harry's whereabouts."

Bagman looked at Dumbledore confused. "It has?"

"Yes. For the magic of the Tri Wizard Tournament to recognize him as a competitor, he must be some where nearby."

"It is still unfair," Madam Maxime huffed. "Hogwarts cannot have two champions!"

"He would not be a student, he has not been on the school registry since his first year," Dumbledore said. "The goblet seems to have put him under the name of a fourth party school."

"So you are wanting to send an unprepared child into the tournament?" The woman puffed herself up like a mother bear. "I do not know how you treat your children Dumbledore, but I will not allow a little boy to walk unprepared to his death!"

"Calm yourself Madam. At the moment we are simply trying to find Mr. Potter. His participation in the tournament can be determined at a later time, after he has been located. For now, it is getting late. Would anyone care for a nightcap?"

The judges gave him various negative answers before leaving his office.

Once the crowd had departed, Dumbledore stood and began sifting through the various silver instruments on his book shelf. He pulled out a palm sized gyroscope looking ornament. It glowed a warm red color in his hand.

One tap of his wand caused the instrument to leap from his fingers and skitter across the floor towards the spiraling staircase which led to the rest of the school. Dumbledore obligingly opened the door and followed the floating gyroscope down the stairs and through the various hallways of the castle.

The headmaster's frown grew more intense with the instrument's red glow, until the scope stopped dead in front of a particular door near the hospital wing and sputtered out.

Dumbledore pondered the door, before hiding his wariness under a bland smile and knocking.

Madam Pomphrey's assistant healer answered it.

"Headmaster," the young man said in surprise. "What brings you here at this time of night?"

"I was just passing through and thought to check on your health. I'm sorry to have disturbed you."

"It is no great trouble. Thank you for your concern. I am feeling much better now." He made to close the door, but the old man had more than enough experience to outwit the youth.

"We have never had a chance to properly chat since your employment here. Are you feeling up to a spot of tea before we both turn in?"

The young man's eyes did not show any of the usual signs of fear usually found when someone had something to hide, however his breath of hesitation was enough to arouse the headmaster's suspicion.

"Of course, I would be delighted." Trafalgar opened his office door widely to allow the older man through, before shutting it firmly behind him.

Dumbledore noted the stacks of books meticulously arranged on the desk and the carelessly unmade bed just visible through the living quarters which connected to the office. The only chair stood stiff backed behind the desk, so the headmaster waved his wand, summoning not only a squashy couch but a pot of steaming tea with two mugs.

Trafalgar eyed the pot with some interest, before settling behind the desk. He accepted the mug offered to him by the old man, but did not drink it.

"So headmaster, why are you up and about so late? If you suffer from insomnia, I am sure I can prescribe you a potion..."

Dumbledore chuckled. "No, no, I was just finishing up with a meeting of the judges for the Tri Wizard Tournament and decided a nice walk would clear my head."

"Ah yes, the choosing of the champions was at this evenings feast."

"Quite right. Pity you couldn't make it; something quite unusual occurred."

Trafalgar raised an eyebrow in inquiry. "Oh?"

"Yes, this year's tournament will have four champions instead of the traditional three."

"I suppose the name must be changed then," the healer deadpanned. "Do the judges suspect cheating?"

Dumbledore shrugged over his cup of chamomile tea. "It would not matter: the goblet has chosen. All four competitors are now in a magically binding contract. Should one of them not compete, well, sufficient to say the consequences are certainly dire."

"Surely another champion could be chosen if a student chose to back out."

"In the past, a portion of the high death rate of competitors in the Tri Wizard Tournament came from those who tried to quit once their name was chosen. I understand that the penalty for cowards is some kind of very painful curse which few survive."

A spark of interest ignited in the young man's eye, but was quickly stifled. "Fascinating. So who are the champions?"

"Fleur Delacour for Beaubatons, Victor Krum for Durmstrang, Cedric Diggory is our own Hogwarts champion, and the fourth champion is," here Dumbledore paid close attention to the healer's expression, "Harry Potter."

Nothing flickered on the young man's face. "I understand he has been missing for several years."

"Quite right, but I believe I have managed to track the boy down."

Trafalgar lounged unconcerned against the back of his chair, tea forgotten on the table top. His hand flexed idly in a circular motion which would have concerned the headmaster had the boy's wand not been in plain sight on the desk.

"Do you know where he is?"

Dumbledore took another sip of his tea. "Sitting right in front of me. Isn't that right, Harry my boy?"

"Harry Potter..." Law rubs his chin and lets out a sigh. "I have not been called by that name in some time." He turns a lazy gaze to the headmaster. "But yes, I am him."

"My boy, what has happened to you? Where have you been?"

The surgeon's eyes narrowed. 'Do not call me that,' he wants to snap, but bites his tongue. "I've been elsewhere. It is rather difficult to explain. How did you recognize me?"

"I set up a locator spell when it was discovered you had first gone missing, however I am afraid that I put it aside when it looked as though you would not be returning to us. "

Law mentally sorted through which books he had read that contained anti-tracking spells. Looks like he had another project to attend to.

"I admit you have changed considerably from when we last saw one another. What happened to your scar?"

"Scar?" Law thought back to the first time he had eaten the Ope Ope devil fruit and the one time he tried to use his modification powers on himself. The end result was lots of blood, a coma which lasted a week, and a good chunk of his forehead (the part containing his lightening bold shaped scar) bursting into an angry green flame. That had been some fun self reconstructive surgery.

He turned back to Dumbledore. "It just faded away after a while."

The old man looked suspicious, but pressed on with a different bout of questioning instead.

"Why didn't you tell anyone who you were the moment you arrived home?" the Headmaster asked.

Law suppressed his glare. His home was a yellow painted submarine floating somewhere in the Grand Line, not a musty old castle in Scotland. "I did not think anyone would believe me," he said with measured calm.

"My boy, of course we would have! Why would you think otherwise?"

Encasing the office in one of his rooms and cutting out the old man's annoying twinkling eyes would be so easy, but unfortunately he still needed to play nice with the wizards. After he found a way back though...

Dumbledore mistook the smile curling Law's lips as one of joy at no longer having to hide his identity from his friends and family. He was not entirely correct with that assumption.

"Well, I doubt your relatives would recognize you, however I'm sure Molly will be thrilled to have you back. The Weasleys worried terribly when you vanished right under their noses. I'm sure no one would object to your spending some time there over the summer re-acquainting yourself with your friends."

"That sounds...fun."

The headmaster beamed. "I will inform them later, but for now we must talk about a more grave matter."

"I assume this has something to do with what occurred at the Halloween feast?"

Dumbledore nodded. "Quite right. You are now bound by magical contract to compete in the Tri Wizard Tournament I'm afraid."

"And if I refuse?"

"Like I said, that would be breaking a magical contract."

The younger man frowned; he would have to look up the exact consequences later. He brought up another objection. "I did not believe that a member of staff was eligible to enter."

"You are correct, so I am afraid that, effective immediately, you are excused from your position as assistant healer. However you may keep your rooms and privileges while you are competing in the tournament."

Law nodded. So long as he had access to the library, it did not matter whether he kept his position.

"There is another thing we must address," Dumbledore said. "I am afraid that because the tournament is such a public event it will be quite impossible to keep your true identity secret for long."

Law nodded. This was not a possibility he had ruled out upon taking his position at the castle; he did not need some holier-than-thou old man to point it out to him like he was a three year old.

"However, I think it would be best to keep it secret for as long as possible. The judges must be informed of course, but I know they will be discreet."

If Law could guess, the secret would be out before breakfast the next day. He repressed a sigh. Wizards were so troublesome.

The pirate nodded again, before bidding his former employer farewell and heading back to his office. Sitting behind his desk, the doctor flipped through his notes, mind whirling.

Why would someone put the name of a boy who has been missing for three years into the goblet? As a devious planner himself, Law knew when seemingly strange circumstances had someone's fingerprints all over them. Whose though?

The dark doctor steepled his hands in front of his mouth, eyes narrow. What enemies did he have in the magical world?

The answer was obvious to anyone with access to a history book: Voldemort. Or rather, Voldemort or one of his supporters.

It was probably a ploy to discover his identity, in which case that had succeeded. If they expected Harry Potter to be only fourteen, then there was a high chance they hoped the tournament would injure or perhaps kill the boy who lived.

Assassination was much neater, in Law's opinion, however wizards never liked to do things the logical way. No, some of them were as ostentatious as a Warlord and an Emperor combined; he could expect a messy dramatic plan.

Not that Law had not fallen prey to the lure of drama himself. He smiled, remembering the day Shachi confronted him to ask if he had posed to make his wanted poster picture look so bad ass. The captain never did let his treasurer know that that stack of beri had gone to bribe the photographer, not to buy medical tools.

He shook himself free of the memory and closed his notebooks.

The mystery of the tournament could wait till morning.

...

...

Several days later, Law was interrupted from his research by a nervous looking first year with a camera around his neck.

"Uh, M-mister Law?"

The surgeon looked over the top of his book. "Yes? Mr. Creevy, wasn't it?"

The boy swallowed. "Ah, yes sir. Uh, Professor McGonagall asked me to, uh, take you to where they're doing some kind of photo shoot for the tournament."

Law nodded, savoring the increased terror from the first year as the pirate slowly stood and returned the books he was reading to their proper places on the shelves.

The boy practically dashed through the halls and left Law standing outside of an unused classroom. He could hear voices and shuffling inside.

"And where is our fourth champion?" a man called out.

Law opened the door with a smooth motion. "I believe that would be me." Crossing the room in three long strides, he held out his wand for Olivander to take.

"You?" a woman with glasses and a quill whined. Law pegged her as some kind of reporter. "I thought the fourth champion was Harry Potter?"

Law smiled disarmingly at her. "And you are correct madam."

She blushed, and the quill in her hand immediately leapt into the air and began racing across her notepad.

The wand maker blinked, before examining the length of wood under his nose. "Hm, ebony and dragon heart string, quite good for fine spell work. I remember... how exactly did you come across this wand?"

Law let his face fall into a politely confused expression. "I acquired it shortly after arriving in England, my first wand is no longer usable I'm afraid."

"Pity, that was a fine wand!" He flicked the dark wood through the air, causing a fountain of red sparks to burst from the end and fly about the room before extinguishing. "However, it seems that this wand had accepted you nicely. Next time I recommend coming straight to my shop to get yourself properly fitted."

The other champions, aside from Cedric, looked unsurprised at the discovery of Law's identity, confirming what he had already surmised about the other judges.

The pirate spares more than half a glance a the blonde french girl, before turning back to the proceedings. "If that is all, I must be going."

"If you could just wait a moment!" the reporter called, her cheeks still rosy. "All our readers are just dying to know where you've been all this time!"

Law smiles, and feels the entirety of the room's female occupant's attention zero in on him. "I am afraid the details are bit hazy, and what I can recall I have been asked not to divulge. If you will excuse me." He briskly walked from the room.

A week later Madam Pomphrey snorts into her morning cereal in the great hall, before handing him her copy of the Dailey Prophet.

Law takes the paper and scans the article on the front page.

_"The long thought lost hero Harry Potter has returned to the wizarding world at last to take his place as the fourth champion in the Tri Wizard Tournament. This handsome young man was tragically torn from us just after his second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry... "How I vanished may be mystery to me," Harry said, a dashing gleam in his eye, "but I will not rest until I can discover my lost past!"...This reporter would like to throw in her support for this poor tragic young hero and the lost years of his life! (_cont page 8)."

The irate doctor distinctly did not remember saying any of the things supposedly quoted by Rita Skeeter, but he did not care enough to make a big fuss over what was, essentially, a vanity article.

He rolls his eyes and hands the paper back to his former boss.

...

...

Now how to use the public's knowledge about his identity to his advantage... hmm...

An idea wormed its way into the doctor's mind.

He had finished reading most of the library, and didn't the divination professor say that the Department of Mysteries in the Ministry of Magic did research into the parallel dimension theory of fortune telling? If they had that, than it stood to reason that there would be similar subjects studied there as well.

He smiled and pulled a sheet of parchment from his notes. A few simple lines of flattery and inquiry, and the letter was ready to be mailed. Law congratulated himself by picking up the last tomb in the Y section of the library.

A slam of books meeting wood pulled the dark doctor from his latest text. Looking up, his eyes met those of a particularly riled lion.

"Hello Hermionie," he greeted.

The girl searches his face, conflicting emotions clouding her eyes. "Is what the paper said true?" she says at last.

Law closes his book and slumps back into his chair. "That depends. I, for one, tend to distrust politically run newspapers."

"You know what I mean!" she hisses, shoving Rita Skeeter's article into his face.

He own image, captured just as he was leaving the weighing of the wands ceremony, stares back at him for the second time that day. "Oh that. No, it's all a gross exaggeration with an unhealthy dose of creativity to rile the masses."

She calms down, until his next words cut through her relief.

"However, I am Harry Potter."

Her attention refocused on him faster than a whip crack. "But you can't be! You look too different, and Harry would be my age!"

Law shrugged. "Magic."

She glowered at him. "I don't believe you!"

"All right," he made to open his book, but she slammed her hands on the table.

"Tell me something only the real Harry knows!"

"Like what?"

"Tell me what I told him at the end of our first year when we went into the third floor corridor!"

The doctor wanted to scoff and tell the little girl to go back to class and stop bothering him, and how he did not care if she did not believe him. However, the memory of a scared eleven year old girl wrapping her arms around his shoulders surfaced from his memory.

He sighed, more at himself than at her. "You told me that there was more to life than books and cleverness. You called me brave, and said to be careful when facing down Snape. Of course, we were wrong about who was trying to get the stone, but I digress."

Tears spilled down Gryffindor's cheeks.

"Harry?" her voice sounded too unstable to carry the words.

"I would prefer if you continued to call me Mister-"

She flung herself at his chest cutting off his words. Law sat stiffly in her embrace, wondering if there was a gentle way of telling her to get off.

"I missed you when you vanished," she sniffed into his coat.

The doctor awkwardly patted the top of her head. "I wasn't lying when I said I hated these teary eyed moments, so if you could just..." He pushes at her shoulder and shoved a tissue into her face.

She chuckles and wipes her eyes.

"Why didn't you tell me? We spent so much time together last year, you had more than one opportunity!"

"I did not think that I would be believed."

"You do look very different. I don't blame you." She wipes at her eyes again. "Is that why you've been studying so much? To find out what happened?"

"Yes," he agreed, "Though at the moment I am researching spells to help me in the tournament." He wasn't, but she didn't need to know that.

Hermionie nods, and sits down beside him. "Right, then I'll help."

The doctor shrugs and scoots over to give her room.

He lets himself believe that the smile on his face is there for a crisis well avoided, not contentment at having one of his best friends back.

...

...

...

...

A/N: So if I were to theoretically write another HpxOP fic or a sequel to this one... What would be the one thing you want to se Luffy do in the Wizarding World?

Also, on a scale of one to Akainu, how angry do you think Law would be if after all his hard work to escape, he got pulled back into Hogwarts?

...

...


	5. Chapter 5

...

...

ch5

...

...

Wizards are very bad at being subtle, Law decided as he watched four dragons being unloaded just outside his bedroom window. It was the flashes of flame had woken him up, so at least they had enough sense to silence the beasts' roars.

He rolled over and went back to sleep.

...

...

"So, Potter, have you decided what you're going to do against the dragon?"

Law eyed the defense professor. "I would appreciate if you would keep use my other alias."

"Of course of course," the magical eye swiveled to check the hall for bystanders, before fixing back on the doctor. "Just wanted to know what you had in mind. A dragon is no walk in the park, even for a fully grown wizard."

"I would not call myself that professor, my education in magic has been spotty at best."

"Well if I were facing a dragon, mind this is purely hypothetical, I might slip it a sleeping draught or something similar. Don't medics use a spell like that to knock out patients?"

"It is a variation of the classic sleeping spell, yes."

Moody nodded. "It's all about playing to your strength."

"I do believe this could be considered outside help on the task, professor."

Mad Eye gave him a knowing look. "I'm not telling you how to beat a dragon, Potter, I was just thinking aloud."

Law smiled. "Of course."

Moody smirked, before stumping his way back to the defense classroom. The pirate watched him go, careful to keep his face pleasantly neutral.

That was not suspicious at all.

So, the mastermind behind his entrance to the tournament wanted him to win, or at least progress onto the next task. Perhaps there was some kind of trap set up at the finish line.

He sighed. How juvenile.

Returning to his office, Law rummaged in his desk till he found the Marauder's Map. He had meant to destroy it after last year, however as he was holding the paper over the fire, frantic writing spilled across the paper.

"Mister Padfoot is wondering why the map is becoming singed, and wishes that whoever is currently is possession of said map will not destroy many years of spell casting and exploration!"

"Mister Prongs would like to agree with Mister Padfoot!"

"As would Mister Moony and Mister Wormtail!"

Curious Law had laid the paper on his desk and reached for a quill. "I, Mr. Law, and in current possession of the map."

"Mister Moony would like to know why you are trying to destroy our map."

"It went blank after the first night I found it. If I threw it away and anyone else found it, then I would get caught."

"Mister Prongs would like to know what kind of prank Mister Law is hoping not to get caught in."

Law smirked. "A fun one."

"Mister Padfoot votes that we help our new friend with his prank and preserve the map from destruction, by allowing Mister Law the use of said map."

"Mister Moony and Mister Prongs agree with Mister Padfoot."

Thus, Law gained a magic map with the collective intelligence of an animated portrait. It came in use at times like this.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," he intoned, prodding the parchment with his wand. Lines filled the paper until a full layout of the castle appeared populated with labeled dots.

It was near the middle of the day, so Moody should be teaching his class, however his speck sat stationary in his office. The one moving about in the from of the classroom was named 'Barty Crouch'.

Interesting.

...

...

The fourth champion sighed. While it would be easy to capture the golden egg by switching it with a pebble on the ground in front of him, it would not have the same effect on the judges as something more flamboyant.

Besides, what little boy never dreamed of taking down a viscous fire breathing dragon? A smirk curled the corner of his mouth.

"Room," he whispered, holding his wand loosely in his hand, so it looked as if the circle of blue indicating the use of his devil fruit power came from the wand's tip. Once the arena was encased in the dome of light, Law reached into his pocket. He drew out what looked like a bundle of black sticks.

"I did not think I would need this during my time here," he commended for the benefit of the audience. Dull clacking sounds echoed around the arena as he lined up the sticks end by end and snapped them back together. "It pays to be prepared though."

Sheath finally reassembled, Law grasped the hilt of his sword and drew it out with a flourish. Sounds of awe and cheering came from the stands. The Surgeon of Death smirked; sometimes it paid to put on a show. The Hungarian Horntail hissed as he turned his blade towards it.

Almost lazily the doctor flicked his sword through the air, before sliding it back into the black sheath he held in his other hand with his wand.

Calmly he sauntered towards the nest, not even blinking at the dragon's head, now cleanly parted from its neck, toppled to the floor along with the rest of its body.

...

...

"Would you like to support SPEW?" Hermionie said, offering him a box with different colored badges in it.

Law blinked and listened to her rant about house elf rights, before holding up a hand. "While I can support the feelings behind your movement, I propose you get a better public relations officer to make your organization more accessible to the general populace."

The girl frowned. "Why? What's wrong with it? Our principles are quite sound!"

The doctor thought best how to phrase his next thought. "A society acclimated to slavery will not want to change their policy, especially if the ones who make the laws are the ones benefitting from such trade."

He rubbed the back of his hand absently, remembering the day he first met Joker. His fingers clenched imperceptibly.

"Unless you plan to break into every household and free the house elves one by one, then you have to establish a power base for your ideas. Once you are the one in charge, then no one can stop you from fulfilling your goals."

Hermionie nodded thoughtfully. "So, you're saying I should appeal to the Ministry of Magic?"

He smiled. "Why stop there? I'm sure that you are smart enough to become minister."

She waves her hand dispelling the idea, a thoughtful crease to her brows. "Maybe not minister, but I'm sure becoming a department head shouldn't be to difficult..."

...

...

The fifth year girl looks close to tears as she looks up into the dark doctors face. He keeps his voice neutral as he replies to her question.

"No."

She squeaks, and rushes from the hospital wing in tears.

Madam Pomphrey laughs from her spot by the cabinet. Law, while not an official member of staff any more, occasionally would still wonder by the wing to help out or chat with the nurse. Sometimes the only way to snap out of a borderline homicidal tedium was to break it up with a rousing discussion on the best way to amputate limbs.

"That is the third one today Trafalgar."

"I wish they would all just stop already," he huffs.

She chuckles. "You will have to wait till after the Yule Ball I'm afraid. Or you could just accept; as a champion you are expected to open the dance."

"What?" sweat broke out on the pirate's brow. "No one said anything about that!"

The nurse giggles. "I'm sure you will look very handsome in your dress robes."

Law contemplated feigning illness, or maybe drinking poison to create a real illness, but disregarded the idea almost immediately. He would not compromise his honor as a doctor for something as petty as this: it was the only semblance of morality he had left.

He looked at his still laughing comrade and felt desperation strike with the force of one thousand sea-kings. He got down on his knees before the old nurse's feet and clasped his hands together in a clear beg.

"Madam Pomphrey, can you please rescue me from the hoards of hormonal underage teenage girls, and accept to be my dance partner during the opening song of the Yule Ball?"

The matron's laughter if anything doubled. A bead of sweat ran down the back of Law's neck. "Please, I have literally no one else to ask!"

Putting a hand in front of her mouth, the aged woman calmed her spasms long enough to meet her assistant's eyes. "I wasn't planning on attending myself, but I suppose I can do this one favor for you Trafalgar." A chuckle broke through her fingers. "Of course, all the female students will be very disappointed."

...

...

Law cast an engorgement charm on the bowl before filling it half way with water. Placing the golden egg inside, he pried at its hinges. This time, instead of screeching, he heard singing.

Just as he thought: sound vibrations became distorted when put through different mediums (thank you Oxford physics library), thus what sounded like a metal grinder in the air could sound like a music box in a liquid.

Pressing his ear against the glass, the doctor listened.

...

...

Although Law's scowl lay hidden behind his folded hands, no one dared approach him due to the menacing aura permeating from his body in a ten foot radius.

The next task was in the water, evidenced by the mermaid's song. Most likely the lake adjacent to the castle, as it was the largest body of water in the immediate area.

His scowl deepened. As a devil fruit user, he tended to avoid contact with water that was deeper than his waist, lest he find himself completely unable to move. When going into the water was unavoidable (ie: an accidental fall) his crew were the ones best equipped to take care of it.

Law really missed his submarine right about now.

Still, he was bound by magical contract to participate in this cursed competition, and any attempt to back out of the task would lead to...unpleasantness.

His first idea had been to order some gillyweed, however he was not sure what effect the plant's power would have when combined with his devil fruit.

Similar cases of fishmen who had eaten devil fruits had been studied. In each study, the devil fruit's side effect had overcome the fishmen's natural affinity for water, leaving them unable to swim. It would be wise to assume that the same effect would occur if a devil fruit user ate gillyweed.

Being the only devil fruit user present in this universe, Law decided against testing his hypothesis.

If he were back in the Grand Line he could just use his submarine, or lacking that, a resin coated ship to go under water.

Suddenly the doctor had an idea.

...

...

Krum glowered threateningly, or what would be threateningly if the dark doctor was one to be intimidated.

"Her-mioe-nininni is refusing to go to the Yule Ball with me, because she is saying that she has been having her affections out for another!"

"I do not see how the love lives of teenagers is any concern of mine, Mr. Krum."

"She is saying that she is having the affection for you!"

Law did not let himself react. He was not ignorant of women, far from it in fact. Hey, not only was he a doctor, he was a pirate. The picture on his wanted poster, if anything, only caused more women to fall over themselves to get to him. However, learning that his childhood friend, his fourteen year old childhood friend, was among those throngs of females made his feel slightly ill.

"I assure, I was not made aware of her feelings."

"So you are not having..." Krum sought for the right word, "reciprocation?"

"No." The Durmstrang champion still looked unconvinced. Law poked at a few possible plans, before settling on the simplest one. "If it will ease your mind, I will speak with Miss Granger about her feelings."

The next opportunity Law has to speak with Hermionie turned out to be that afternoon, when Madam Pomphrey asked him to attend to the young Gryffindor's cursed teeth.

"What on earth happened to you," the doctor asked once the girl's teeth had shrunk down to a sufficient size for her to answer.

"Ron and Malfoy got into a fight outside of the potion's classroom," she shrugged, holding up a mirror to tell him when her teeth were back to their proper size. "A bit smaller than that I think."

Law indulged her moment of vanity and continued to shrink her teeth to a size slightly smaller than they originally were, making her smile nice and straight instead of slightly buck toothed.

"Miss Granger, there is something I would like to speak to you about, if it is not too much trouble."

"No trouble at all!" she gushed, examining her teeth from every angle in the mirror. "That looks perfect!"

The doctor wondered how best to broach the subject. Usually he did not need to worry about being so kind when rejecting another's affection, but here with one of his oldest friends he strained to acquire some tact.

"I understand that Victor Krum has asked you to accompany him to the Yule ball."

"How did you find out about that?" From her shocked tone, this was clearly not what the girl had been expecting.

"He approached me to understand why you rejected him. I found myself unable to be much help."

"Well, he is just not my type," Hermionie mumbled, not meeting his eyes.

"He seemed nice to me, certainly enough of a gentleman to go to the ball with."

"I don't know. Are you going to the ball with anyone?"

Now they were venturing into sea-king infested waters. Like many other men before him, Law decided the best option was to lie through his teeth. "I was going to invite my fiance, but she does not like to travel internationally."

The girl started and stared him straight in the eye. "You're married?" Her face did a passable impression of a furnace.

"Did I not mention before? How thoughtless of me."

"N-no, it is all right," she stuttered. "So, what were you saying about Krum again?"

Later, Law looked out of the window in time to see a bushy brown haired figure approach the lake side and call out to the Durmstrang ship.

Manipulating people had to be one of his more enjoyable pastimes, especially when in the end the ones being manipulated thank you for it later.

...

...

Law ate alone at his place at the end of the table. There were some whispers questioning his lack of a date, but those were soon silenced when the tables moved back against the walls to reveal the dance floor.

Madam Pomphrey, dressed in a well preserved outfit, approached him on the floor for the first dance, still laughing occasionally at the situation. The song was slow, quick, and easily suppressed from the doctor's memory as he fled the hall once it finished.

When it was done, Madam Pomphrey returned to chat with the other members of the staff, in particular Professor McGonagall. The sight of two old woman giggling like teenagers was more than enough to hasten Law's escape before he was forced to dance with another...tenured member of staff.

...

...

...

...

A/N: If one were to read my stories, they would think that I am Hermionie/Krum shipper. I'm really not...it just seems to turn out that way whenever I write their characters together.

SPOILER WARNING AHEAD

I also realize that not everyone will be up to the most recent One Piece chapters, and therefore they might not know who Vergo is... (see chapter 3 where Law gets mixed up with the dementors). Vergo is this guy who works for Joker who, it is implied, at one point in Law's life almost tortured him to death. When Vergo meets Law, he says he is surprised that the doctor can even look at him without cowering in terror, or something to that effect. I felt that being tortured is just as bad if not worse than watching your parents die. When Law is first mixed up with the Azkaban Guards, I try to make it look like he is assaulted with multiple horrible memories: Lily's screaming, the sound of wind from when he first appeared in OP or something that occurred at sea, and his own screams wen he was with Vergo being tortured.

Joker is one of the code names of the Warlord Doflamingo. He, among other things, runs slave auction houses and drug rings.

Anyway, just wanted to clear that up.

Second to last chapter up by next week!

...

...

Review Replies!

...

...

rianifitria: So about the time between the worlds difference thing. I know it doesn't make much sense, but neither does string theory pulling gravity into different dimensions. It helps to think of time like a bouncing ball: At some points on it's journey from point A to point B it will travel faster or slower. In this story, just suspend your disbelief enough to accept that time moves faster in whichever world Harry/Law is currently inhabiting. The increments of time will vary, because while Law has studied all he could on the subject of space time, we humans have yet to find out all the whats and whys of how it works.

Karkaroff is prone to exaggeration, so when he said 'Potter has been missing for years' it was an exaggeration. Though from his perspective, Harry had been 'missing' since before he went to Hogwarts (what with him living at the Dursleys). With only one year of real contact with the magical world, perhaps one could count all the years where no one but the headmaster knew where he was 'missing'...hm...

Also, does it explicitly say anywhere in the book that the name had to be written by the competator? Maybe Moody just pulled out one of Harry's old essays that were on file and pulled his signature from there to put in the goblet or something.

Don't blame the author for plot holes! Blame the plot for demanding that it be written! And thank the Nostalgia Critic for his noble sacrifice to the Plot Hole, so that we may point out illigicalness in peace.

...

...

Mai Kusakabe: :) I'm glad you like it! I hope you enjoyed the way Law handled the lake task! It's funny, because in _Light My Fire (_a little drabble series I did where Ace is Harry) Harry does sit down and say 'I can't swim'.

I'm sorry to say that I have not written Rita Skeeter another major scene in the story, however her article does play a big part in how the wizarding world will like The Boy Who Lived in the future.

:) I would like to see Luffy do that too, however the plot is fickle and does not like poor authors, so even I don't know what will happen yet!

...

...

10th Squad 3rd Seat: Your comment is so full of _YES_, I just had to post it here.

"One to Akainu? I'd say Akainu plus Doflamingo at the end of Punk Hazard."

...

...

Sakura Lisel: Law is participating in the tournament because his name was pulled out of the goblet and he is now bound by a magical contract. The reason he is not blowing up at Dumbledore and telling him where he can stuff it, is because Law knows that when someone has a resource that you want (the library for information to return to the Grand Line, a place to sleep, ect) then it is best not to make them dislike you. The doctor never actually agreed to go along with any of the headmaster's plans, he just never said that he wouldn't out loud. It is not his fault if the stupid wizards think he is going along with him! He also does not plan to remain in the wizarding world for much longer if he can avoid it, so any plans the wizards have for him are meaningless as far as Law in concerned.

Yeah, Dumbledore has a bad case of 'your elder knows best' and as he is significantly older than practicly everyone...you can see where this is going. To him everyone is a little child in need of guidance.

Thanks for feeling so strongly about my story!

...

Another Author Note: how do you think Law would handle a class full of Hogwarts fangirls? Do you think any teaching would occur, or would the girls just stare with hearts in their eyes?

...

...


	6. Chapter 6

...

...

ch6

...

...

"Predictable," Law sighs as he watches 'Barty Crouch' sneak into Snape's dungeon. Probably for Polyjuice potion ingredients to maintain his disguise as Moody.

A quick look into the school's achieves and a cleaver word searching spell had revealed a stack of papers from almost fifteen years ago concerning the conviction of Barty Crouch Jr. as a Death Eater.

The man had supposedly died in Azkaban several years prior. The pirate knew better than to listen to any government reported deaths unless the execution was public.

From there Law had only needed to play the waiting game. He doubted Barty Jr. was the mastermind behind the plot, the only question was whether it was his master or another Death Eater orchestrating things.

The doctor contemplated telling the headmaster of the infiltrator, but decided that it might interfere with his own plans if the old man knew. In his experience, wizards were not very good at planing.

...

...

Law looks at the pile of pink confections decorating his plate. He prods a particularly lacy atrocity and recoils, fighting the urge to wipe his gloved hands on a napkin.

On his left Professor Sinestra chuckles. "Quite popular with the ladies, aren't you Mr. Law."

He shoot her an exasperated look. "What on earth are they?"

"It is Valentine's Day. Those are well wishes from your various admirers at Hogwarts."

The doctor grimaces. Why couldn't these school children realize that he was much to old for them? Even some of the seventh years...well seventeen was not too far from being in your twenties, but he would not engage in any sort of relationship while in the wizarding world.

Carefully he pushed the plate full of 'well wishes' away from his seat. A tray of bacon soon took its place.

The universe better pay him back for his morally imposed celibacy, he thought, viscously taking a bite of sweet bacon-y goodness.

Elsewhere, Fate made a note to send the poor doctor to Amazon Lily.

...

...

The whistle blew, and the champions approached the lake.

Law did not bother observing what the others were doing in favor of casting his own variation of the bubble head charm. The spell stretched over his entire body, forming a crude kind of wet suite similar to the kinds made of resin that were used in Saboady and Fishman Island.

He strode confidentially into the water, not even wincing when the waves closed over his head. Many hours had been spent in a handy bathroom with an enormous tub perfecting this spell, and Law was confident in his experimentation results.

He had never been much of a swimmer, even before eating the Ope Ope fruit, but he had observed those performing the act enough to know when to kick and use his arms.

It took less than forty five minutes to reach the mer-village. Law personally felt the setup was rather lack luster compared to the kingdom of Fishman Island. That was a truly impressive underwater settlement. The one at the bottom of the lake just seemed...muddy.

Using a shard of his sword, he retrieved his hostage and swum to the surface.

Being underwater was cool and all, but Law would prefer several inches of yellow painted steel between him and it over a thin film of magic.

...

...

A letter tied to the leg of an official looking owl arrived for the dark doctor at breakfast. Staff and students watched with interest as a small smile curled the fourth champion's mouth. Several girls slumped to the floor from all the blood rushing to their faces at once.

Finishing up his breakfast, Law left the great hall to go to the fireplace located in Madam Pomphrey's office. Taking a pinch of glittering powder, he threw it onto the flames.

"Ministry of Magic," he called as he stepped forward. Whirling past grates in a blur of green, Law soon found himself deposited in a grand entry hall with a golden fountain in the center.

Straightening his cloths, he walked over to the information desk. He smiled politely at the witch manning the counter. "I have an appointment with the minister. Where might I find his office?"

"I'll send him a note, if you could just wait in the atrium for a moment," she said through her blush.

"That would be very kind of you."

The doctor watched with interest as she tapped a piece of paper with her wand, folding it into a paper airplane. The little craft fluttered into the air and zoomed away, presumably to inform the minister of his arrival.

Sooner than Law expected, a round man with a bowler hat bustled into the atrium. Around him swarmed secretaries, a few reporters, and one man who looked too uninterested in the proceedings to be anything but a body guard.

"Harry Potter!" the politician called jovially when the doctor came into sight.

"Minister," Law acknowledged. They shook hands under the flashing of camera lenses.

"I'm sorry it has taken me so long to reply to your letter young man," Fudge said.

Law smiled politely. "It is no trouble Minister. I understand how busy things can get for a man in your position."

"Quite right, quite right!" Fudge chuckled. "Now you were saying you were interested in the goings on here at the ministry?"

Law maneuvered his face into what he thought a well behaves lost kitten might look like. The reporters squealed ad the cameras flashed madly.

"Yes. As you know, the circumstances of my disappearance are mysterious even to me. I was afraid that this mystery would go unsolved for the rest of my days, until I learned of the fine research facilities here in the Ministry of Magic's own Department of Mysteries."

The reporters hanging on his every word turned en-masse to hear the minister's reply.

Fudge's eyes flicked between the camera lenses and poised quills, before breaking into a plastic laugh. "Why of course! I shall call up one of my Unspeakables immediately!"

"I am grateful for this opportunity to tour the Department of Mysteries, Minister. I am sure it will help me find out what happened when I disappeared."

"Of course, of course!" the politician beamed. "Dawlish here can take you down to department right away, won't you?"

The body guard looked over at being addressed. "Of course, minister."

"Good, good!" Pumping the pirate's hand one last time, Fudge swept away with his entourage of reporters.

"The lift is just over here," the auror said, pointing to a golden cage on the adjacent wall.

The Department of Mysteries was on the bottom floor in a blank hallway which reminded Law of a prison.

A hooded figure waited for them at the door to the department.

"You must leave your wand here," the Unspeakable said gruffly. "You have been granted access to the room of records, however you may not take anything from the room."

Law nodded, and surrendered the length of wood in his pocket.

He was led into a circular room lit with blue torches. His guide waved his wand, and one of the door opened.

"What do you keep in the other rooms?" Law asked.

The figure shrugged. "Mysterious items mostly. Things that would be a danger to the public, but we can't dispose of. Everyone says being an Unspeakable is so cool, but really this place is more of a glorified storage facility."

The room they entered contained only a wooden dais and a large stone archway. The Unspeakable led the doctor to one of the side rooms. Inside the walls were lined with bookshelves to the point of bursting.

Law frowned. "It's so small." He sounded like a child who was just told that Santa did not exist.

The Unspeakable shrugged again. "Like I said, glorified warehouse. Anything else in here with words on it is probably cursed."

Sighing, the surgeon settled down onto the lone desk in the center on the room and began sorting. The work was only slightly more than tedious and slightly less than agonizing.

Through the open door the veil fluttered invitingly, whispering with the voices of the dead. Law raised an eyebrow at it, and returned to the stacks of parchment.

There was an interesting reference to something called a 'Dimensional Witch', however the note also said that payment for her help was what the wisher valued most. Law did not have his priorities straight enough to lose something like that.

He sighed. Muggle physics had a better ground work than half of the manuscripts in the department. Wizards, it seemed, had not gotten to the experimentation stages of the scientific method. Most of what Law was seeing was simply observations and untested hypothesis.

The doctor supposed that in a culture where you could wave a stick to solve all your problems, anyone asking a simple 'why' would be laughed at and told it was magic.

Closing the last book, Law turned to the robed escort. "I believe i am finished here."

The Unspeakable nodded and led him back through the room of spinning doors to the main hall which connected to the rest of the ministry.

The auror was waiting outside.

"Done already?" he asked in a falsely cheery tone. Law nodded, and allowed himself to be guided back to the lift.

A paper airplane fluttered into the auror's hands. He unfolded it and read the contents, and embarrassed grin on his face. "Would you mind if we had a bit of a detour on our way out? Only my mate's calling in a favor, and it would save me some time, as it's on our way."

Law shrugged, still agonizing over his disappointment with the state of the wizard's research department.

The man gave his thanks, and set the lift to open up at the floor for Magical Transportation.

That looked promising.

As the auror vanished into a back room to speak with his friend, Law took his time to examine the office around him. A stack of books lined neatly on the shelf caught his eye.

Information on portkey creation was limited in the Hogwarts library. They tended to create sticky situations when made improperly, so the ministry took special care to keep the knowledge of their creation only in very small professional circles.

The largest of the books found its way into Law's pocket before his train of thought could fully stop.

"Sorry for the detour," said his escort.

The dark doctor smiled politely. "It was no problem at all."

...

...

Law hummed thoughtfully. According to his 'appropriated' book, a portkey created what sounded like a stable wormhole between two fixed points.

Usually, magical landing points were marked and set up in advance by a team in order to ensure that no one accidentally became stuck in the middle of the wormhole.

When an individual makes a portkey for immediate use, then they must be able to bridge the intermittent space with their minds, and force the connection to instantaneously appear, instead of the gradual team approach.

Several tips were outlined where the writer suggested using communication routes, like roads or letter paths, to chart the closest paths. In an even smaller footnote, the writer mentions how following muggle phone signals can also stabilize the wormhole.

The dark doctor found the text very informative, but still did not know how exactly he could use it to get home. After all, it wasn't like there were postal services between dimensions.

Closing the book, he slumped over his desk. Several stacks of paper slid carelessly to the floor, unearthing a dreary looking den den mushi.

Law poked at the snail's eye, watching with bored fixation as the creature retracted its limb. The phone on it's shell remained silent while the clock on its side moved sluggishly through time.

He slumped further against the table as the last connection he had to his crew tried to slither away.

Huh...connection...

The man sat bolt upright, nearly toppling the chair upon which he sat backwards to the floor. A mad gleam glowed in the depths of his eyes as a triumphant grin that could send a group of first years running away crying broke across his face.

The den den mushi' escape was cut off as Law gently plucked it from the table by its shell. "You are my connection to the other side," he cackled to the insect, "and my way home!"

The insect thought it best to hide inside its shell.

...

...

...

...

...

A/N: We're at the Home Stretch! One chapter to go! Stay tuned for next week's installment of The Doctor is In!

I've got a bit of a sequel written, but it will be nowhere as long as this...as far as I can guess. It probably won't be up for a while, what with school and all.

...

...


	7. Chapter 7

...

...

ch7

...

...

Law entered the maze at a sedate pace, sword tucked casually over his shoulder as he walked.

The false Moody was among those patrolling the outside of the maze, so the doctor kept his ears open for screams and his eyes open for traps. His task would be so much easier without the tall hedges blocking his view. The captain of the Heart Pirates vowed to learn observational haki at the first available opportunity when he returned to the Grand Line.

The only obstacle he had met so far was a shimmering illusion which inverted his sense of gravity. Any other time he thought he saw something, they would mysteriously vanish. Just as he suspected; the mastermind wanted him to get to the center of the maze and win the tournament.

He sighed: it would be so disappointing if this whole scheme turned out to be someone trying to win a bet based on the outcome of the tournament.

Law turned a corner and blinked. The creature blocking his way through the maze grinned with very sharp teeth. The pirate had never been interested in the debates of sentience that wizards and world nobles had, however he could see that the woman before him now was cleaver and bloodthirsty.

Was it not for her being half lion, Law might have asked the sphinx out for drinks, or perhaps find a rude pirate crew to sink together. Instead, he met her eyes in a laid back challenge.

The sphinx blinked.

...

...

The spider ran towards the Diggory boy, poisonous mandibles burying themselves in his thigh. The Hufflepuff managed to blast the monster away with a quick spell, but remained stationary on the ground.

The dark doctor walked over to the bleeding student, diagnosing him as suffering from trauma from the wound but not poison. Lucky him. The assistant healer flicked his wand, causing a stream of bandages to staunch the bleeding from the wound.

"Mr. Law," Cedric gasped through grit teeth.

"You will survive until Madam Pomphrey can see to you, however I recommend not moving too much lest you bleed out." The boy started shivering uncontrollably. The doctor casually stepped over him towards the golden glowing cup.

It was not out of kindness he helped the boy, it would just be easier for Cedric to tell Dumbledore what had happened if he was still alive. In the unlikely event that Law had miscalculated, then a backup plan and perhaps a hasty rescue were desirable.

Clasping his hand around the handle of the glowing cup, Law felt a jerk and a familiar hook behind his navel pull his forwards.

The pirate resisted a sigh.

Wizards were so predictable.

...

...

Law leaned his head against his shoulder and tried not to fall asleep.

Voldemort the 'Dark Lord' was utterly too predictable. Contingencies were wasted when the mad wizard entangled himself in Law's initial plan.

The pirate repressed a sigh for what felt like the hundredth time that night. He wanted a more interesting opponent, someone whose actions could not be predicted on a chessboard.

His mind drifted to the auction house in Saboady and the confrontation with the marines. That was the most fun he had had in years. Kid and Straw Hat...Law itched to sail to the New World and see what they would do against him.

Finally the mad wizard finished lecturing to his followers and turned back to the bound pirate. Law met his eyes evenly, trying not to look and uninterested as he felt.

"And now we duel! Wormtail, return the boy's wand to him!"

The ropes holding him were soon cut and a dark length of wood shoved into his face. Law obligingly took the wand with the hand not tucked in his pocket and faced his opponent.

"We bow before dueling, Potter," Voldemort sneered. "Were you not taught proper manners? Imperio!"

The world became unfocused under a haze of happiness. It reminded the doctor of the time when his cook 'accidentally' spiked the crew's dinner with mind altering mushrooms. The resulting neon painted deck and ti-dyed uniforms were washed and burned respectively. The incident encouraged him to develop a tolerance for most drugs and poisons.

Law shook his head and the haze lifted. "Was that meant to do something?"

Voldemort looked livid.

"Avada-" the wizard began to say, but Law had had enough playing around.

He flicked his fingers, and the wand of every Death Eater in the clearing, as well as the dark lord's, flew into the doctor's outstretched hand.

Silly wizards, not even noticing him encase the entire graveyard in a 'room' while the cauldron's light show was happening. Oh well, it just made his task easier.

Neatly crushing the bits of wood in his fist, Law dug around in his pocket for the hilt of his sword as the graveyard burst into chaos.

A cleaver bit of charm work allowed his pocket to be much larger on the inside than on the outside, so the doctor was able to draw his sword all at once, instead of needing to reassemble it. Eventually the charm would fade, but it served its purpose admirably at the moment.

Several well placed slashes left the Death Eaters struggling to reassemble themselves. Law turned to the leader of the merry band of incompetence.

"I don't know about being immortal, but I wonder how you would handle being dissected and each remaining match box sized piece of you thrown into the sea? Or I could keep your kidney in a jar on my desk... Unfortunately I don't have any anesthetic."

The Surgeon of Death couldn't help the manic grin ticking at the corner of his mouth.

"This is going to be a fun operation."

...

...

Threats carried out and enemies disassembled, Law decided it was time for him to leave before he gained another bounty. Or worse, be crowned a hero.

He deactivated his 'room', and the Death Eaters who had been unable to reassemble themselves screamed as blood began pouring out of their wounds. The doctor took special care to make sure his power did not linger on the cuts, otherwise they would be able to survive for several days in pieces. The ones who had any sense picked up their legs long ago and scrambled as fast as they could towards the hills.

The doctor fished around in his pocket until his fingers closed around the small shell of the den den mushi.

"One inter-dimensional portkey." He poked the snail's cheek with his wand. "We both better hope this works," he told it.

The snail gulped.

...

...

*.*.*.*.*.*.******...

...

...

Sand spilled over the collar of his coat filling all the little nooks and crevices under his cloths with discomfort. He paid it no mind as he lay spread eagled on his back, staring up into the spring blue sky. Water lapped at his feet pulling at his energy and adding to his lethargy.

"Captain? Captain?" called a voice through the baby den den mushi. Carefully, Law uncurled the death grip on the snail in his hand and held it closer to his face, still avoiding as much movement as possible.

"Yes Bepo?"

"Captain! We've been trying to contact you all week! Are you all right?" The bears voice broke with frantic sobs.

"I was detained, but am quite well now," he said to stop his crew mate's weeping.

"Sorry..."

Law refrained from chuckling. "You all should pick me up as soon as possible. I think I'm still in the Grand Line..."

"Ah, captain, some of the men were thinking about going back to Saboady. The World Government is televising the execution of Fire Fist Ace."

A smile tugged the dark doctor's lips: good old due process putting on a show. "We need to get a new coating for our ship anyway, so I don't see why not."

"Yay!" the bear cheered. "It's good to have you back! See you soon captain!"

"See you..." Law trailed off as the snail went back to sleep.

He could already feel the deck of the yellow submarine under his feet and smell the formaldehyde from his lab.

It was good to be home.

...

...

...

...

...

...

A/N: And it's over! Or is it... I have an image in my mind occurring somewhere between Dressarosa and Punk Hazard involving horcruxes and the Straw Hat Crew...do I have the time and motivation to write such an epically cool piece? IDK! Yay school, taking away from all my fanfiction time.

Review on your way out!

I'll post a notice here when I put the sequel up on ffn.

...

...

...

...

...

Review Replies

...

...

10th Squad 3rd Seat: "Who was Law's Hostage?"

I could think of no one believable other than Hermionie, but since she was Krum's hostage...let's just assume it was a pile of books...or perhaps his hat...I mean, the song just says 'something you will sorely miss...

...

...


	8. Sequel Teaser

...

...

The Doctor is Out ... Of His Mind

...

...

The sun shone jollily down from a clear blue sky, making the ocean sparkle like diamonds.

Of course, such calm weather hardly meant safety to a ship traversing the New World, but this particular vessel had the devil's luck, so it was not too worried.

Trafalgar Law allowed himself a relaxed sigh as he sat of the deck of the Straw Hat Pirate's ship. At long last the final stages of his plan were unfolding. Soon he and his allies would arrive at Dressarosa, where he would confront Joker for the last time.

To his right, Monkey D. Luffy lounged on the lion figure head. The only other person on deck lay stretched out on a lawn chair, her long orange hair falling in curls around her shoulders.

The dark doctor lay his head back against the railing. He liked it when a plan came together, and despite the best efforts of his fellow captain, this one still managed to pull through. He let out another pleased sigh.

Just a few more days, and he would finally be free of Doflamingo.

Law gagged as he felt something stab into his gut. His mind raced to diagnose the source. Had his wounds reopened? Did Vergo's rough treatment of his internal organs leave a time delayed surprise of internal bleeding or fractured rib? The battle had put significant stress on his heart.

"Hey!" Straw Hat said, as his guest keeled over on the deck.

"Is he all right?" The navigator's voice called.

The surgeon of death curled into himself as another spasm of pain pulled behind his navel. Instinctively, Law lashed out against the terrifyingly familiar sensation, using all of his power to remain on the Sunny's deck.

"Hey, Trafal-guy, you all right?" Straw Hat asked, poking at his shoulder.

"I'll go get Chopper," the orange haired woman said, leaving her lawn chair to get the reindeer doctor.

Another pull, and this time the surgeon found himself unable to resist. A hook behind his navel grew taught, dragging the unwilling doctor away.

The deck of the Thousand Sunny was suddenly empty, neither captain in sight.

...

...

End Teaser :)

See the sequel on my profile The Doctor is Out...Of His Mind

...

...


End file.
